Clash of the Titans
by Gryphinwyrm7
Summary: An Egyptian Magician teams up with two Half-Bloods to stop a force that threatens both Greek and Egyptian worlds: Ragnarok.
1. I Fight the Dung Beetle From Hell

**Clash of the Titans**

**Disclaimer: **_Percy Jackson & the Olympians/The Heroes of Olympus_ and _The Kane Chronicles_ are the intellectual and copy written properties of Rick Riordan. No intense is offended. Certain characters are my own creation, and the gods of Greek, Egyptian, and Norse Mythologies are public domain and no one can claim them.

**Chapter 1: I fight the Dung Beetle from Hell**

It's really not fair. I always end up having to face the lamest gods. Even when I was training, my friend Malik got to banish Khnum, the ram-headed god of creation. I got to banish…Heqet…the goddess of frogs. FROGS!

When Malik was banishing Khonsu, the moon god, I was battling Twaret. Twaret is the goddess of pregnancy. Pregnancy. Need I say more?

So I really shouldn't have been surprised by my latest assignment, Kherpi, the god of Dung Beetles. That's right, Dung Beetles. What does this have to do with anything? In fact, why am I even writing this down? Well, I'm trying to get my account as accurate as I can…because sooner or later I'm going to have to explain all this to Desjardins and the elders of the Per Ankh. Might as well get my story straight. Perhaps I should start at the beginning…

My name is Alexander Sands, and I am currently the only magician assigned to the 177th Nome. Madagascar. That's right, Madagascar. If you're wondering what connection Madagascar has to Egypt, the answer is none. They were trading partners in the 1400s, so there's a few bowls and pot shards. But the 1400s is long after the Per Ankh went underground, so the bowls have very little Egyptian magic in them.

It's actually a pretty cushy assignment. Tropical beach, gods never reform here, and I've got the local House all to myself. It could be worse…the 360th Nome…magic penguins, ugh.

The local house, such as it were, is on the eastern bank of the _Ambinanimananano Atsimo _River. It's more of a small shack than an actual house. I don't have one of those big mansions that you might find in New York or Paris. It's one story, only one room in fact. The house is also literally less than 100 feet from the beach and the Indian Ocean.

My only companions are a shabti crocodile and my pet peregrine falcon, Ardeth Bay.

Paradise really, and I'm okay with that. I've got friends in other nomes, since I don't have much to do in my nome, I'll sometimes pop in and help them out when they want me, but mostly I just relax, study magic, and take long naps.

That was exactly what I was planning on doing that fateful morning. I had a table set out front with the remains of my lunch. (I often eat outside) I had my Senet board set up (an ancient Egyptian game, a precursor to chess. The goal is to get all of your pieces off the board before your opponent does) I was playing Ardeth for the 800th time…and losing. The falcon plays a mean game of Senet.

I had retired from the game early and had now flopped down in my hammock strung between two trees when I heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. I opened one eye and glanced down to see a little man, three feet tall, with golden fur all over his body. He had a monkey-like face, and his feet were ape-like as well.

I groaned loudly.

"What do you want, Bes?" I said. "I'm napping."

Bes and I had a long standing relationship. He's an Egyptian trickster god, and the patron god of children, relatively harmless as gods go (believe me!). One of my first assignments was to banish him back to the Duat. Things hadn't gone according to plan, and I almost wound up being dragged into Netu, Sokkar's area of the Duat. Not a pleasant fate and Sokkar is not a pleasant god.

Anyway Bes saved my life, and since his host was not a human, but a lemur (long story) we came to an understanding. I would allow Bes to remain in the mortal realm, but he had to inform me when a god or goddess had been released. Iskandar had been aware of my arrangement with Bes, but I didn't tell Desjardins when he took over…and I probably won't either.

"I'm here to uphold our arrangement," Bes said. "To inform you of the release of a god…"

"Where were you during the Demon Days," I said sitting upright in my hammock. "When Isis, Osiris, Nephthys, Horus, and Set were released?" I demanded.

Bes winced. "Oh…eh…er…you know about that?"

I glared at him. "The whole House knows about that."

"Heh, heh," Bes said grinning feebly. "It was the Demon Days? You know that portals can't be activated then.'

"By magicians," I said. "Gods can still activate them. Besides, they were released before the days."

"Eh…oops?"

"Why are you here?" I demanded again.

"It's uh, Kherpi," Bes informed me.

I frowned. "The God of Dung Beetles?"

"That's the one!" Bes said enthusiastically. "He's loose in St. Louis. Took a Volkswagen Beetle as his host."

"St. Louis?" I groaned again. If there's any city that magicians hate, it's that one. First off, my mother lives there, so I have a certain obligation to show up at least once a year. Secondly, the city proper is on the west side of the Mississippi. It should be obvious why that's bad. And East St. Louis is just a bad neighborhood. It's just a bad place for an Egyptian magician to be all around.

"Yes indeed," Bes said grinning. "Near the Arch."

With that, the trickster god vanished.

Part of the deal I had with Bes was that _I_ had to act on any intelligence that he gave me. It was the only way Iskander would let me keep the little guy in the mortal plane. I owed Bes my life, but he was a trickster. If he gave me bad intelligence, Iskander wanted me, and only me to fall into the trap.

I sighed and glanced at the sun. Twenty minutes till noon. I grabbed my staff, wand and magic kit. I checked to make sure I was wearing all cotton, and walked around my little shack to my homemade obelisk.

It was small for an obelisk, only six feet tall. I built it expressly for the purposes of making portals, since there were no natural Egyptian artifacts in Madagascar strong enough to make one. It was also my only way in and out of Madagascar. The airport was an 8 hour drive and all flights out were 11 hours more.

Since I was leaving Madagascar, I wouldn't be able to come back for at least 12 hours, due to the obelisk overheating. I whistled sharply and Ardeth fluttered down and landed atop my white cedar staff. The top of the staff had a lion's head carved into it. I've always had an affinity for white lions, which is why I carved one into my staff. It helped focus my power.

My particular magical specialty is animal charming (hence Ardeth) but like any good magician I knew a little of everything.

I took out my wand and drew the 'open' symbol on my obelisk. (Ox horns, Box, X)

"St. Louis," I said, and the symbols faded away. It was still another two minutes till noon, so I just sat and waited for the portal to open. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the swirling vortex of sand burst open.

Ardeth likes traveling via portal for some reason. The moment the gate opened he chirped excitedly and flew into the portico, vanishing. I sighed heavily and then stepped through.

I tumbled out of the sand into a spacious room.

"Hmph," I muttered. "They moved the exhibits since the last time I was here."

The default portal for St. Louis was the St. Louis Art Museum. It's not because there's no obelisks in the area, because there are, (If you're observant, you'll find obelisk-like monuments everywhere) but rather because the most powerful artifact in the St. Louis area is housed in the museum. It's a mask, a simple mummy mask from the 19th dynasty. But it's a one of a kind mask; her eyes are made from glass, a technique that was forgotten quickly after they discovered it. It looks like she is actually looking at you, like her eyes are real.

The mask is so unique, that the Cairo museum has been demanding that St. Louis return it to them. They claim that the Art Museum acquired it illegally. The museum insists they did nothing of the kind and refuse to return it.

Personally I hope that Cairo never gets it back. For one thing, they've got so many exhibits, they'd never display it, and the mask would sit in their storerooms. Second, it would mean that they would move the default St. Louis gate. I would have no idea where I would come out.

As it was, the Egyptian artifacts had been moved to another room, so the gate had dropped me off in this room instead of the one I was accustomed to coming out in. I glanced at the mummy mask, and winked. Lady Ka-nefer-nefer's mummy mask had a decent amount of power settled in her, hence the ability to use her to make a portal.

I whistled again, and Ardeth fluttered to my shoulder. There's a 12 hour difference between Madagascar and St. Louis. It was noon in Madagascar, but was barely 6AM here.

The museum wasn't even open yet. Fortunately I was accustomed to that. And I knew my way around the museum fairly well. A simple hieroglyphic spell and the cameras were disabled. Another and the door was unlocked and we were outside, at which point Ardeth took to the sky. One more set of hieroglyphs and the cameras were back online and the doors were locked like nothing had happened.

XXX

Kherpi wasn't hard to find, unfortunately. There was a nasty smell near the Arch that even the mortals were noticing. They just couldn't figure out the source. I could though…I massive pile of manure large enough for a fifty foot insect to roll into a ball.

I gagged.

"Where did he even find this much dung?" I wondered aloud.

There was a shudder through the ground and a massive beetle crawled out of a hole in the earth. It had to have been the ugliest thing I had ever seen. Fifty feet long, with massive serrated mandibles, and these coal-black eyes that penetrated your soul.

The weird part was the Volkswagen emblem on its face, right above the mandibles and just below those terrifying eyes. I remembered that Bes had said that Kherpi had possessed a Volkswagen Bug as its host…but I had kinda figured he'd been kidding. I saw a tailpipe sticking out of the insect's abdomen.

"I am Alexander Sands," I said. "Magician of the Per Ankh, and you are going back to the Duat."

The god made a loud hissing sound, which rather reminded me of the Hissing Cockroaches back in Madagascar. The scent of motor oil and feces filled the air, and I could barely breathe. It took me a moment to realize the Kherpi was speaking.

"_Never little mortal magician,_" Kherpi said. "_We are all free at last! After centuries of being banished by the Great House, we shall not be forced out again!"_

"We?" I gasped, trying desperately to breathe in some clean air. Kherpi could be a poster child for global warming, with all the CO2 he was releasing.

"_The gods,_" Kherpi hissed. "_We are all free at last._"

"All of the gods?" I said, utterly shocked. "Bes failed to mention that."

"_Bes? That little imp owes me money!"_

_And, that explains why he told me about Kherpi but not any of the other gods, _I thought rolling my eyes. _Little weasel didn't want to have to pay his debt._

"Nevertheless," I said throwing down my staff. It transformed into a massive white lion with Safire blue eyes. My lion staff snarled loudly at the dung beetle. The horrifying insect looked at me calculating. My lion growled and circled closer and closer to the dung beetle.

The beetle leapt atop his massive sphere of dung and charged toward me, rolling the dung ball to flatten me.

I may be an animal charmer, but elemental magic is always the fastest, and I had a massive supply of water to the right of me…the mighty Mississippi.

"Water," I crowed, and a blast of brown water shot out of the river, knocking Kherpi off of his ball and washing the excrement orb into the river. As an animal charmer, I knew that that many feces would be devastating to the ecosystem, even for a river as polluted as the Mississippi, so I quickly cast a second bit of magic on the dung ball, even as it started breaking apart.

"Cheese!" I declared. The dung changed color, and broke apart into large hunks of limburger floating down the river.

The beetle honked in frustration. That's right, honked. Like a car. I got the impression Kherpi wasn't fully acclimated to his automobile host. My lion-staff lunged and leapt upon the god's back, tearing at his exoskeleton. At the same time Ardeth dove out of the sky and started tearing at the beetle's eyes.

The beetle opened the wings on his back and shook violently, knocking the big kitty off. Kherpi honked again and charged forward, I quickly drew a Wadjet symbol in the air with my wand, creating a barrier spell around me, but Kherpi just charged past me. I turned around to see a massive portal had formed right underneath the arch. The symbolic Gateway to the West had become a literal gate to wherever Kherpi was trying to escape to.

He knew better than to try and use the Duat to escape, I'd just bind him there, so he had created a portal instead. With barely a thought my lion-staff was at my side and I was on his back, riding him and charging after the big Bug.

Kherpi dove into the sand vortex, but the portal remained open.

_This is probably a bad idea,_ I thought. _I don't even know where this gate leads._

Despite the more logical part of my brain speaking up, I charged, and my lion-staff pounced leaping into the gate.

I tumbled out of the portal and onto hard pavement. Wherever I was it was still dark. The portal remained open just long enough for Ardeth to come fluttering out, still covered in sand. My staff had instantly transformed back in transit, so I picked it up as I got to my feet, and looked around.

Cleopatra's Needle. The one in New York, not London. It resided in Central Park. This much I realized when I saw the skyline. Three flashes of annoyance struck me at once.

The first was, I could see no sign of Kherpi. How I could have lost a fifty foot long beetle I had no idea, but gone he was. Second, being in Manhattan meant that I was on the western side of the river, which is always bad news for an Egyptian Magician. Third, I was deep in the territory of the Greco-Roman gods.

All right, I'm going to break it down for those of you who have no idea about the Greco-Roman gods. I doubt that there are any, but just in case. America is their territory…generally speaking. It's the heart of Western Civilization, of which they believe they are the source.

Any Egyptian Magician worth two cents will tell you that that's inaccurate, but it's somewhat pointless to quibble. Regardless, the Greco-Roman gods are at least connected to Western Civilization, their Mount Olympus moves to wherever Western Civilization is strongest. Greece first, then Rome, a few other places, Spain, France, England. Now it's in New York, hovering just above the Empire State Building.

Magicians have always noted its location, just so we can steer clear of the place. Those of you who don't know, are probably wondering, don't magicians fight and banish gods? What's the big deal?

The Greco-Roman gods aren't like the Egyptian gods…they're more…realized I guess is the proper term. They don't take human hosts, only human lovers. Yeah, they mess with peoples lives, but they have never actively done anything that the Per Ankh objects to. Egyptian gods are older, more primordial forces. They need hosts to affect things in our world, because they simply have too much power to manifest here in their true form.

We've never seen a need to fight the Greco-Roman gods, and mostly we don't like to even pop up on their radar. No need to let them know that Egyptian society has affected Western culture as much as they have. The Ankh amulet around my neck would hide my presence; they wouldn't even have to know I was here.

Besides I doubted very seriously if any besides Athena and Hermes were even aware of the existence of the Netjer (Egyptian word for Egyptian gods). Athena because…well, she's pretty perceptive and Hermes because he once hosted an Egyptian god. (I KID YOU NOT! Google Hermanubis, see what comes up, it's pretty creepy)

Anyway, for all the reasons mentioned above, the long standing policy of the Per Ankh has been, 'It is best not to interfere'. Obviously we don't worship the Greco-Roman gods any more than we would the Egyptian. (Most House members are Copts, since we are descendants of the original Egyptians, and not the Arabs who currently occupy the country)

So, anyway since New York is the New Olympus, it is very much Greek territory, and quite frankly teeming with Greek monsters and gods. Like I said, we don't like to interfere, so that meant that I should try to keep my magic use to a minimum, lest I attract unwanted attention.

The Greco-Roman gods couldn't sense me, but if one happened to be walking in Central Park at night…they might see me, and wonder who or what I was. I didn't wish to be the guy who exposed the Per Ankh to Olympus.

I was tired, having just fought a god, and having made a portal earlier today. I wanted some rest. That meant checking into the local Per Ankh headquarters, which was in Brooklyn. It was also a tricky proposition. The headquarters of the 21rst nome was run by Amos Kane.

Like everyone in the Great House, I had heard about what had occurred during the Demon Days in December. How Carter and Sadie Kane had hosted Horus and Isis, and defeated, but not bound Set. How they had revealed that Apophis, the vile serpent had been on the cusp of returning to power. And how they had abandoned the gods who had inhabited them, releasing their power and the gods' hold over them. This was something that most of us had not thought possible.

The Kane children had insisted it was time to work with the gods, to fight Apophis, like the House had in the olden days. Desjardins did not agree. As a result the House was starting to divide. Some felt that the Kane children were correct, that the times of banishing gods were through. My friend Malik felt strongly about this. He told me he had even started to bow to the children out of respect after they fought Set.

My best friend Ziva Fazahl however, disagreed. She felt that no good could come from consorting with gods. She never did approve of my arrangement with Bes.

Me, I was on the fence. I hadn't decided yet, and I really wasn't in a rush to decide either. Still, Amos Kane should, theoretically at least, still open his doors to me. After all, hospitality was important to the House.

I sighed loudly and began to head east, praying only for a warm meal and a snug bed. Ardeth swooped down and landed atop my staff. I tossed the rest of my gear except my wand into my personal storage bin in the Duat.

As I was about to exit the park, Ardeth let out a warning chirp and took to the sky again. Instantly I realized I was in danger. I turned around cautiously examining my surroundings. Then I saw them.

Two Greco-Roman heroes, half blood children of Olympian gods (easy to spot if you know the signs) were attempting to fight a monster. I say attempting, because their backs were turned to her.

My mother is a mythology professor at Washington University in St. Louis. I know my myths, too well in fact. Fortunately for me, the monster's face was focused on the half-bloods, so I could not see it. But I knew Medusa when I saw her.

I should have done nothing; I should simply have walked away. It's not the House's policy to interfere in the affairs of the Greco-Roman gods or their children. But the part of my oath that involved the protection of innocents tugged at me, and God help me, I decided to interfere.

First, I recalled my kit from the Duat, and then tossed my staff down, transforming it into a lion, which bounded toward Medusa roaring. This was only a distraction so that I could write my Ma'at hieroglyph on my papyrus scroll.

Every once in a while, an Egyptian Magician will run into a Greco-Roman monster. It doesn't happen often, because we smell like mortals and our amulets render us unperceivable to them. But there are so many of the nasty creatures out there, that it does happen occasionally. We find them more annoying than anything else. They are creatures of pure chaos, the barbaric, chaotic forces that lie just underneath Western Society. And they are easily dispelled by a simple Ma'at hieroglyph.

Ma'at is order, the force that opposes _Isfet_ or Chaos. It is also the name of Thoth's wife, but that is a WHOLE different story. Greco-Roman monsters are simple embodiments of chaos; nothing more, nothing less. They may be difficult for Greco-Roman hero's to defeat, but the Ma'at spell makes short work of them.

My lion roared, distracting Medusa and causing her to turn her attention to him. The lion turned to stone instantly. The two half-bloods turned in surprise as well. By this time I had written the symbol on my papyrus. It glowed a soft green and faded away. Medusa exploded into dust.

The half-bloods stood there gawking. I got a better look at them now, a boy and a girl.

I couldn't help but smirk. Knowing magic older than the Parthenon came in handy. I calmly walked up to the stone lion and clasped his tail. The statue shuddered and shrank back into my wooden staff.

Something clicked with the girl, because she suddenly blurted out;

"You're an Egyptian Magician aren't you?"

I sighed.

"You must be either a child of Hermes or Athena," I said casually tossing my kit into the Duat. "No one else could possibly have guessed."

"I was right!" she said. I glanced at her. She was 16 or 17, with long blond hair and stormy grey eyes.

"Athena," I said. "Definitely Athena."

"Annabeth," she said after a moments hesitation. "Annabeth Chase…I've read stories about Egyptian Magicians…but I thought that they were just that…stories. I never dreamed they were true."

"'There are more things on heaven and earth'," I said. "'Then are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio', Shakespeare. Ironic, as he was aware of his parentage. Or prophetic, depending on how you look at it. Alexander Sands, Scribe in the Per Ankh, you may call me Xander, Miss Annabeth. And your silent friend?"

The second half-blood was 17 or 18, perhaps older. He wore a simple orange t-shirt and a pair of jeans and tennis shoes. He had wild black hair and sea-green eyes. I could tell instantly however, that his appearance was deceiving. He practically radiated power from his whole body, save an area in the small of his back.

"Percy," he said, offering his hand. "Percy Jackson."


	2. Someone Hijacks My Rainbow

**Clash of the Titans**

**Chapter 2: Someone Hijacks My Rainbow**

"It's called the Per Ankh," I explained to the half-bloods. "The House of Life. For the past 5,000 years or so, we've been combating the forces of _Isfet_ and sealing away those powers."

We were sitting around a picnic bench in Central Park. The dawn was just starting to break. Percy and Annabeth had just told me a little about themselves, their parents (Poseidon and Athena, if you care) and some of the monsters they had faced.

Medusa had apparently had some kind of vendetta against Percy, seems he'd slain her once before. When she'd reformed she'd instantly sought him out. Percy and Annabeth had been on a *_ahem_* date in the city when she'd attacked. They were both grateful for my aid.

So, I decided to tell them a little about myself. It was only fair, and I felt certain I could trust them. They were young, yes, but they were not children…they'd seen far too much.

"So," Percy said. "You battle…what? Egyptian monsters?"

"Yes," I nodded. "More or less. Any demons that come forth from the Duat we seek and destroy. And any of the gods that come forth, we banish."

"I've never seen an Egyptian demon," Annabeth said dubiously.

"Then we're doing our job well," I countered.

"Did you say you…_banished_ your gods?" Percy asked, sounding almost horrified.

"Yes," I replied. "The gods are primordial forces. At least…Kemetic gods are. Your Greco-Roman gods are younger. Less powerful. More realized."

"Kemetic?"

"_Kemet_ is the Egyptian word for Egypt," I said. "'Egypt' is a Greek word. When The Greeks conquered Egypt they renamed our country and our gods."

"Okay…," Percy said hesitantly. "But, what's this about banishing your gods?"

I hesitated. "Our policy since the end of the Ptolemaic era has been to fight the gods and banish them whenever they arise. It is largely believed that they caused the fall of Egyptian civilization. It is a notion that has been challenged recently…very recently in fact. A new movement has arisen within the Ankh with a desire to work with the gods to fight the darker forces."

"So...you're not related to your gods?" Percy said.

I shrugged. "Many in the House are related to Pharaohs, who once hosted gods, but no. In fact, one of my ancestors is Alexander the Great. He's related to you two, a son of Zeus I think."

"And you don't even worship the Egyptian gods?"

I was offended, I knew I shouldn't be, as they didn't know better, but was offended nonetheless.

"I am a Copt," I said pulling out a small gold cross that I wore along with my Ankh. "A Christian. I use the gods, work with them, even fight them, but never worship. If nothing else, Thoth taught us that."

Both Percy and Annabeth seemed surprised by my outburst.

"It's weird," Percy said. "I've never met anyone…well, anyone in the magical world who worships…well, God."

"Percy," I said. "You know that the Greco-Roman gods are real. And now you know that the Egyptian Pantheon is as well. Despite the fact that both sets of gods _actually exist,_ Christianity and Judaism are the most prominent western religions. In fact, quite a few of your Half-Blood relatives were prominent Christians. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, Teddy Roosevelt, and some of them even knew their parentage. Why do you suppose that is?"

They looked abashed, as though no one had even pointed that out to them before.

"Even in ancient times," I said. "The Greeks would build temples to 'the Unknown God'. The apostle Paul insisted that those temples were to the Christian God, the Greeks just hadn't known it yet."

"Just food for thought," I said standing up and stretching. Ardeth chirped and flittered down to perch on my staff. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I still have to find Kherpi. Or Bes, I'll banish the cheap little imp. I trust you won't tell your parents about me. At least not your immortal ones."

"Wait," Annabeth said. "We seriously owe you for helping us with Medusa. Maybe we can help you."

"Yeah," Percy brightened. "Let us help you fight this Creepy guy. It's the least we can do."

"If you think you can help…" I said hesitantly. "I suppose it couldn't hurt. He certainly wouldn't expect the two of you. And it's Kherpi, not Creepy. He's the Egyptian god of d…of Beetles."

"Whatever," Percy said shrugging. "John, Paul, George, or Ringo?"

I rolled my eyes and ignored him.

"I don't know much about Egyptian gods or mythology," Annabeth said. "But I'd love to do the research. The ancient Egyptians were _amazing _architects. Just look at the pyramids."

"Great," Percy said dryly. "Research."

She flicked him affectionately. "Watch it, Seaweed Brain."

"We should tell Chiron why we're not back yet," Percy said suddenly looking at Annabeth seriously. "And why we're not going to be returning."

"Since when are you the responsible one?" Annabeth asked.

"We'll need to find a rainbow," he said ignoring her.

"I believe I can accommodate you," I said. I pulled out my wand and began drawing hieroglyphs in the air. They glowed a soft green and faded as soon as I had written them. {Eye shaped oval, Vulture, River (which is more of a squiggle), Foot, Looped rope}

There's not really a word for 'rainbow' in ancient Egyptian. At least, not that I know of, so I had written it phonetically in English. I actually do that quite a bit, hieroglyphics being such a potent magical language, it usually works. Intent has a lot to do with magic too.

It succeeded this time as well. A shimmering column of rainbow light appeared in front of Percy and Annabeth.

"Okay," Percy said. "That's pretty cool. How long will this rainbow last?"

"However long you need it too," I replied.

He and Annabeth rifled through their pockets until Annabeth pulled out a large golden coin. She flicked it into the rainbow, where it vanished.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering." She said. I winced, for a moment I thought she had said Isis instead of Iris.

"Chiron at Camp Half-Blood," she continued. The rainbow shimmered and glowed, and a moment later the image of a man with a rather shaggy beard appeared in the rainbow.

It took my breath away. As I said, I know my myths. Even before my father showed up when I was seven and took me to the First Nome, my mother ingrained mythology into my head. I knew Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Norse, Celtic, and Babylonian myths well. After learning that Egyptian mythology was true, I studied even harder.

I was looking at Chiron, the legendary trainer of Heroes. He had taught Heracles, Bellerophon, Achilles, Atalanta, Theseus, and a dozen other classical heroes. Plus, I knew that he had never stopped training heroes. Charlemagne and Orlando, El Cid, Robin Hood, William Tell, Joan of Arc, George Washington, and Ulysses Grant. The centaur was a legend in his own right.

I tried however, to remain as stoic as possible.

"Percy, Annabeth," Chiron said looking at the two of them sternly. I could also sense relief in his voice. "Where have you been? You should have returned hours ago. Clarisse was insisting that she go after you."

"We ran into some trouble," Percy said. "Medusa re-formed. Wanted revenge. But, uh Xander here helped us out."

I started to say something, but my voice died out. What do you say to the legendary trainer of heroes? Other than _my mom will be so envious that I met you._ Somehow, that didn't seem appropriate.

"Ah," Chiron said looking me over. "An Egyptian Mage. I haven't seen one in quite some time. A thousand years at least."

"Yeah," Percy said. "He saved our butts. He was just passing by, decided to help us out. We figured we should repay the favor, help him out with his little bug problem."

"Oh ha ha," Annabeth said.

"I'm not sure what that means," Chiron said. "But you have my permission. Mark him well. The Egyptians are an old and wise people. Remember, they've been around much longer than Greek Civilization. They were the ones who told _us_ about the sinking of Atlantis."

Percy seemed surprised by this, but didn't say anything.

"Chiron," Annabeth said. "I was wondering if you could send us any books or information on Egyptian Myths. Anything you think could help."

"I'll see what I can do," Chiron started to say, they his image began to flicker and wobble, like a TV signal being blocked. "May…Nico…lp…some…gods…magic…"

Then his image sputtered out. It was replaced almost a second later by that of a young girl. She couldn't have been more than Annabeth's age, 17, 18 tops. She had ice blue eyes, and long golden blond hair.

She was wearing at black t-shirt that said "Valhalla or Bust" on it. Over that she had a black leather jacket with rhinestones all over the back. When I looked more closely at the jacket though, I thought that the Rhinestones looked more like actual stars. In fact, I could make out several constellations. She wore jeans and a pair of thick white boots. I was fairly certain that they were polar bear-skin boots.

The rainbow suddenly fizzled out, but the girl remained, and jerked forward, falling into my arms. I caught her, and she looked up at me in confusion. This girl wasn't an image; she was an actual girl, who had actually popped out of the rainbow.

"Well this is new," I said. She suddenly jerked away from me and drew a long steel sword from a sheath on her back. She was still dazed, but had clearly gained enough of her faculties to have realized something wasn't right.

"Who are you?" she demanded. "Where am I? This isn't Asgard."

"ASGARD!" Annabeth and I said at once, both of us clearly shocked by her words.

Annabeth turned and looked at me. "Did you…?" she started to ask.

"No," I said. "I had no idea. I knew about your gods, but Asgard? I'm as surprised as you."

"What's going on?" Percy said scowling at us.

"Asgard," I said calmly, keeping my hands up so that the girl with the steel sword would see I was no threat. "That's the home of the Norse gods."

"_Norse_ gods," Percy said incredulously.

"Yes," the sword equipped girl said. "Norse gods. Where's Thor? And Odin? I must speak to Odin."

"You're not in Asgard," Annabeth said, sounding amazed at her own words. "You're in New York. Manhattan."

"Oh gods no!" she said, looking around and noticing the skyline for the first time. Then she burst out crying. It was odd, because she kept her sword leveled at us.

"Manhattan? How the Nifleheim did that happen?" she sobbed. "The Bifrost Bridge was supposed to take me to Asgard, not Manhattan. My family only had one favor with Heimdall. Now I'll never get there in time. He's won…Loki will unleash Ragnarok…"

That got my attention. Ragnarok is the Norse Apocalypse, the end of the world.

"Ragnarok," I said more sharply then I had intended. "What do you mean?"

"I just found out that the Egyptian gods are real," Percy said. "Now you're telling me so are the Norse?"

"Egyptian?" the girl said with bewilderment. Then she looked at me. I guess she noticed my staff, and the falcon perched atop it. I was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of khakis, as well as a pair of crocs (the sandals, not the animal). I didn't look like an ancient Egyptian, save my staff and falcon. And Ardeth is a Peregrine Falcon anyway. They're actually natives to America, not Egypt.

"And Greek," Annabeth volunteered. "I'm sure that…"

Annabeth was interrupted by a loud howl. It sounded like it was in the distance, but somehow it carried over the noise of Manhattan morning traffic.

"What was that?" Percy asked.

"You heard that?" the sword-girl said. All three of us nodded.

"It's Fenrir," she said sheathing her sword. "If you can hear him then you're in danger. Run!"

"Fenrir?" I said. "As in the Fenris Wolf? The monstrous son of Loki?"

"Yes!" She said. Percy pulled out a pen, and removed the cap. The pen expanded into a celestial bronze sword. I had heard of celestial bronze, but I hadn't seen it till now. Annabeth pulled out a bronze knife.

"You can't fight Fenris," the sword-girl said urgently. "You can only run."

There was a crashing sound through the trees. Then suddenly a massive black came bounding out of the woods and onto the path. It was at least as big as Kherpi had been, fifty feet long and thirty-five feet tall. Its eyes were enormous glowing yellow orbs. Its fur was jet black, and there were bright red stains around its mouth. Around its neck was a silver choke-chain collar with a name tag.

**Fenris Wolf**

**If found please return to uninhabited icy rock or call**

**846-727-4273 ext. 6346**

"Why do they always have collars?" Percy wondered out loud. The massive black wolf bared its fangs and growled. The growl rumbled through the park, sounding not unlike a biker gang rumbling through the park. He noticed Percy and Annabeth's weapons and hesitated.

"Can you do that thing you did to Medusa?" Annabeth whispered. Fenrir's ear flicked, he'd clearly heard her. Worse, I think he understood her.

I nodded and tossed my staff, which transformed once again into a massive white lion. Oddly enough, my lion-staff was approximately cat-sized in comparison to the giant wolf.

I quickly grabbed my papyrus and brush from my storage bin in the Duat and rapidly painted the Ma'at symbol. The hieroglyph glowed green and faded. Nothing happened to Fenrir.

I rolled up my papyrus and stowed it in the Duat.

"Now can we run?" the sword-girl asked.

"Oh yeah," I said. "We should be running now."

My lion snarled and bounded forward. The four of us used the distraction of my beast to turn and make a dash for it. We were out of the park fairly quickly, and into the thick of the city. We ran along the sidewalks and into the bustling crowds.

"We need to get someplace safe," Annabeth said. "Someplace protected. Maybe Olympus?"

"Olympus?" The sword-girl wondered aloud.

"No," I said shaking my head and glancing up at the gigantic floating mountain above the Empire State Building.

"I doubt very much that I'd be welcome there," I said. I jerked my thumb at the Sword girl. "Her as well. If we can make it to Brooklyn however, we can stay in the Per Ankh headquarters there."

"Will _we_ be welcome?" Annabeth asked.

"Yes," I said. It wasn't a lie per say…I honestly didn't know.

"Shouldn't we be heading toward a subway station or something?" The Sword-girl asked. I guess she had decided that we were safer than the Big Bad Wolf behind us.

"Nah," I said pointing towards the river as we neared the edge of the island. "Shortest distance between two points is a strait line."

"Actually," Annabeth said. "It's a curved line, one that follows the curve of the planet."

"I don't think that's helping," Percy said. "Do we have a boat or something? I can make the water seem solid, but the East River god won't like it, and might try and counter-act me on general principle."

"A boat I can do," I said, and my papyrus and brush were in my hand again.

"How are you doing that?" the sword-girl demanded, noticing the appearance of my stuff out of thin air once more.

I didn't answer her, and the air filled with the sound of Fenrir's howl. Obviously he was through with my staff now. I mentally cast the remains into my storage locker in the Duat. I could repair the staff later.

I drew the symbols for boat on my papyrus. They glowed green and faded. Even as they were fading Ardeth chirped out a warning from above. Moving my wand with lightning fast precision I drew a Wadjet in the air. A barrier surrounded the four of us just in time for the big black wolf to slam into it, snarled and scratching at the invisible wall around us.

"Nice timing," Annabeth said.

"Thank Ardeth," I said pointing to my falcon. The Egyptian reed boat bubbled out of the river in front of us.

"That's your boat?" Annabeth scowled. "That's not exactly what I had in mind."

"I'm a magician not a yacht-maker," I said.

"I can make it work," Percy assured us. The four of us scrambled into the boat, and suddenly the thing shot off through the water. My barrier spell was already starting to fade. Fenrir burst through it, and the barrier dissipated. I knew there was nothing more I could do to help us. I hadn't had much rest and I was starting to get hungry. In other words, my magical reserves were getting low, especially with my staff gone.

I guess being the son of Poseidon has its perks, because Percy was able to move my reed boat like it was a motor boat. We glanced back to see Fenris still standing at the water's edge. He seemed hesitant to enter the water.

"Where are we going?" Percy asked.

I glanced at the Eastern shore. I'd never actually been to the 21st Nome before, so I didn't exactly know where I was going, but I had an idea. The Per Ankh builds its headquarters on the eastern side of rivers, usually quite close to the banks. I scanned the shore carefully.

"There," I said finally pointing at what appeared to be a derelict factory.

"The abandoned factory?" Percy asked.

"No," I said. "On top of the factory."

My three companions stared hard at the place I was pointing to. It was hard if you didn't know what you were looking for, in fact, even I had some trouble spotting it.

"Wow," Annabeth said. "There is a lot of Mist surrounding that factory. Even I had trouble."

"Mist?" I asked politely.

"Yeah," she said. "You know, when divine elements mix with the mortal world. They create Mist, and it usually fools any mortal looking into the Mist into seeing something different than what's actually there."

"Oh," said, slightly impressed. "We didn't have a word for it. Huh. Learn something new every day."

"The river won't hold Fenris back for long," the sword-girl warned.

"No," I said. "But the House's wards will. If my Wadjet could block him, then he can't get in there."

"I hope you're right," she said ominously. "Your…spell…didn't seem to last long."

"That's because I'm exhausted," I said. "I've used up a great deal of power already, and I'm pretty sure I couldn't cast another spell."

Percy pulled the boat up to the dock. We scrabbled out of it, and the moment everyone was off, it sank beneath the water again. We heard Fenrir howl again, more distant than before, but definitely on this side of the river.

We glanced at one another and rushed up the stairs to the mansion atop the factory. I knocked on the main entrance door, glancing back at the river and seeing nothing to indicate how close Fenris was.

Amos Kane opened the door and looked at the four of us in surprise. I had seen Amos Kane a few times while visiting the First Nome, but I had never spoken to him before.

"I'm Alexander Sands," I said formally. "Scribe of the Per Ankh, custodian of the 177th Nome. I request sanctuary for myself and three guests in the 21st Nome."

He blinked in surprise, and then glanced at Percy and Annabeth.

"Greco-Roman Half-bloods?" he said. "What is going—,"

He was interrupted by the sound of Fenrir's howl, much closer this time.

"Never mind," he said ushering us in. "Sanctuary is granted. Come on in. And welcome to the demigods. You're the first Greco-Roman Half-Bloods to enter the Per Ankh since Alexander the Great."


	3. I Play Tag with a Snake

**Clash of the Titans**

**Chapter 3: I Play Tag with a Snake**

"So," Amos Kane said looking at us slightly bemusedly. "Does someone wish to explain what is going on here?"

"Where do we even begin?" I asked, looking at my three companions. Truth be told, I wasn't sure what had occurred myself. He led us into the Great Room. I glanced around the room enviously. My shack had a folding card table with a plastic figurine of Thoth. _This _was a real House.

"Ostensibly, at the beginning," Amos said.

Percy glanced at the sword-girl. "How about we take turns," he said. She looked at him dubiously and then sighed.

"You won't believe me," she said. I noted a slight Canadian accent. "You'll think I'm nuts."

"Try us," Annabeth retorted.

She took a deep breath and began, "My name is Annika Geatson. I am a descendant of the mighty hero, Beowulf."

She winced and looked at us. When no one called her crazy, she continued. It was right about then that a baboon in a Lakers jersey came in with a tray of food for us. I politely took a lamb kebob off the tray, and began quietly eating to replenish my strength. Annika stared at the baboon for several seconds as he offered more lamb kebobs to Percy and Annabeth. They politely declined.

"Beowulf," She said shaking her head and continuing her tale. "Is a widely celebrated Norse hero."

"Didn't they make a movie called 'Beowulf'?" Percy asked. "With Angelina Jolie?"

"Ugh," Annika said. "Don't even get me started on that movie."

To her surprise we all started laughing.

"I think we can sympathize," Percy said. "Have you seen that 'Clash of the Titans' remake?"

"Or those 'Mummy Movies'," Amos said smiling. "With Brendan Frasier."

"I liked those movies," I said reaching up and stroking Ardeth's chest. My falcon chirped in agreement. "I thought they were hilarious."

"Anyway," Annika said, staring at us like we were crazy. "As it turns out, monsters don't stay dead when you kill them, every once in a while they come back. Fafnir, Grendel, trolls, they reform."

We nodded. We all understood that concept.

"Well," she said. "It's the responsibility of the descendants of the heroes who originally slew those monsters to kill them again when they come back. Apparently there's some kind of weird bond between the monsters and the bloodlines. Siegfried's lineage has to kill Fafnir over and over…and my family…"

"Kills Grendel," Annabeth supplied. Clearly she knew enough about the myth to know what Annika was getting at.

"And Grendel's mother," Annika said. "Grendel isn't as dangerous as Fafnir, but essentially we have to kill him twice. Once you slay Grendel, you have to go to his lair and take out his mother, before she kills your family. Sometimes my ancestors have failed, so we know what she does in retaliation."

"It was my turn to kill Grendel," she said bitterly. "I was the youngest member of my family over the age of fifteen, which meant that I had to take on Grendel, by family tradition. I had no trouble killing Grendel, my cousin had killed him about five years ago, and he gave me pointers. But when the time came to face his mother…I followed her into the cave, but instead of finding Grendel's mom, I found a man bound to a rock. There was a snake coiled around a stalactite, and poison was dripping down from its fangs onto the man's face."

"Loki," I whispered in awe. I knew this myth. "Where he was imprisoned for the murder of Baldur."

She nodded. "Exactly," she said. "Only I didn't know it at the time. I knew the Norse monsters were real, it was common knowledge in my family, but it never occurred to me that the gods were real too."

"Norse culture has had an impact on Western Civilization," Amos supplied. "Perhaps not as much as Egyptian or Greek, but the influence is still there. Look at the days of the week, Wednesday is Odin's Day, Thursday is Thor's Day. Look at the Minnesota Vikings, look at the Santa Clause myth, clearly inspired by Odin himself."

Annika nodded again. "That's what my grandfather said after I told him what happened, but I was pretty naive at the time. And Loki was a smooth talker; he tricked me into releasing him from his bindings."

"Which is the first sign of the Norse Apocalypse," I said.

"By the time I realized what I'd done," she continued. "It was too late. Loki was free. He'd made some sort of deal with Grendel's mother, so that she and her child would never be slain again. He went to Antarctica, where Fenrir was bound, and released him. Fenrir's been hunting me ever since."

I glanced at Amos. "The 360th Nome?" I said. "Do you think the magicians there are okay?"

"I don't know," Amos said. "But I intend to find out as soon as we're finished here."

"So anyway," Annika said. "I felt it was my obligation to try and warn the Norse gods, only I didn't know where Asgard was. It used to be in Norway, and then it moved to Iceland, then Greenland. I don't know how or why it keeps moving, but I do know that it's somewhere in Canada now. Somewhere near the western half of Canada and in the wilderness."

"Canada has a lot of wilderness," I said.

"I know," she replied. "But then my grandfather told me that Heimdall, the Norse god of Rainbows, owed our family a favor. Heimdall is the gatekeeper for Asgard. He also controls the Bifrost bridges. The Bridges can take you anywhere you want to go, if you can afford the toll. I cashed in our family favor to take a Bifrost bridge to Asgard…but somehow wound up in Manhattan instead. Now the favor is gone, and I have no idea how to get to Asgard."

After a brief moment, Percy and Annabeth explained who they were. Annika marveled at the fact that they were children of Greek gods, and that Olympus had moved to Manhattan. She then understood better why we weren't calling her nuts and some of the events that had occurred after Fenrir had showed up.

Finally I explained who I was, and what the Per Ankh was. I described how I chased Kherpi from St. Louis to New York. How I'd helped Percy and Annabeth defeat Medusa, and how I'd used hieroglyphs to create a rainbow so that Percy and Annabeth could send their Iris message.

As soon as I had said this Amos leapt to his feet and yelled "Aha!"

"It's your fault the Bifrost Bridge didn't work," Amos said. "And also bad timing, the fact that Annika used the Bifrost Bridge at the exact moment Percy and Annabeth made their *_ahem*_ phone call. There's a reason why the Per Ankh tries to steer clear of the affairs of the Greco-Roman gods. The magic doesn't mesh well. Just ask Hermes about that unfortunate event with Anubis the next time you see him."

He glanced at the demigods when he said this.

"When you combined the Greek magic with the Egyptian magic," he continued. "You created a catalyst that…shall we say, interfered with the Norse magic. You hijacked her bridge without meaning to, and drew her here, instead of Asgard."

"Oh my gods," Annabeth said looking at Annika, who was now regarding the three of us with something that bordered on revulsion.

"This is our fault," Annabeth said. "We caused this problem. We should try and fix it."

"How?" Annika demanded.

"By getting you to Asgard," I said standing up. Annika looked at me incredulously.

"You didn't even know that the Norse gods existed before today," she said. "How do you expect to find Asgard?"

"By asking around?" Percy suggested. "Between the Greek and Egyptian worlds, someone has got to know something."

Amos nodded. It was then that he glanced at his watch.

"If you will excuse me," he said. "My niece and nephew will be arriving any moment."

The older magician got up and left the room, the four of us sat in awkward silence. We heard the sound of the front door opening, and a moment later Amos returned, with two teenagers and a young woman.

I jerked to my feet and grasped my wand instinctively.

"Bast," I hissed at the woman. She glared at me the way a cat does when they're annoyed.

"Xander," Amos said sternly. "You are a guest in my House."

God I hate gods.

"Xander, Percy, Annabeth, Annika, these are my niece and nephew," Amos introduced them. "Carter and Sadie Kane. And as Xander was so kind as to point out, this is the goddess Bast."

I took a deep breath. 2,000 years of prejudices are hard to let go, especially considering what Sokkar did to my father.

"Master and Mistress Kane," I said bowing politely to Carter and Sadie. "If you will excuse me for a moment."

I turned and left the room, heading upstairs and into a guest chamber. I slumped against wall, and closed my eyes, breathing deeply.

Perhaps I should explain my behavior. As you know, I do have a working arrangement with Bes, but Bes is a harmless trickster god. Bast is a whole different story. In addition to the abandonment of her post, where she left Apophis unchecked, Bast is the wife of Ptah, an incarnation of Sokkar.

Eight years ago, when I was 13, Sokkar managed to break free from his prison, a funerary stele of Tuthmosis, which is also housed in the St. Louis art museum. This occurred during the Demon Days, and as my father was visiting my mother, he was in St. Louis when this occurred. As the only Magician nearby, my father came and faced Sokkar, who had taken the museum curator as his host. My father had not been powerful enough on his own to face Sokkar. Several other mages from the local Per Ankh showed up shortly after my father (having had to take a car from Alton Illinois, where the headquarters is located.). They bound and banished Sokkar, but they had not been in time to save my dad…there is no word for what Sokkar had done to my father.

So…despite my general preference, to not pick sides in this inter-House debate, I was inclined not to trust gods…especially gods who associated themselves with Sokkar.

"I'm sorry," Amos said entering the room. I scowled at him. "I should have realized sooner why you would not have cared for Bast's company. I knew Jacob Sands. He was a good man…a good magician."

"I'll be fine," I said. "They're not really married anymore anyway, right? I mean, Horus and Isis are brother and sister now, not mother and son."

"Carter and Sadie gave up the gods," Amos said shaking his head. "They're not godlings anymore."

"I suppose that I was going to have to pick sides sooner or later," I said. "Malik and Ziva have been very vehement about their positions. Let's hear their side of the story."

XXX

"Is there a reason why there's an enormous black wolf circling the Mansion?" Sadie asked as I entered the library. She was gazing out the window with a confused look on her face. Amos had requested Percy, Annabeth, and Annika to remain in the living room while we discussed, as he put it 'Per Ankh Politics'. I glanced around the room. Bast was nowhere to be seen, which was good. I really didn't want her nearby while I listened to their story.

"He's not your problem," I said. "He's mine, to be dealt with shortly."

The brother and sister glanced at one another and then at me.

"Kinda rude isn't he?" Carter said.

"I'm sorry," I said. "Bast stirs up bad memories. Please. Tell me your story."

I listened intently as Carter and Sadie took turns telling me their version of events from the Demon Days five months ago. They were quite convincing. I had been in Madagascar during the Demon Days, literally trapped and unable to do anything while Set almost destroyed the world. I had only received bits and pieces of information, even after the days were over. Hell, I hadn't even found out that Iskandar had died until January 7th. Nobody had told me the whole story, not even my friends Malik and Ziva.

When they were done telling me everything, I still hadn't picked a side, but I was leaning toward Carter and Sadie's side. It was clear that the status quo would not remain the same. If I helped the Kanes though, it would mean going against Desjardins, and possibly turning my back on the House of Life. Now _I_ had some serious food for thought.

When I returned to the living room the baboon was sitting on a chair, stuffing his face full of Girl Scout cookies. Do-si-dos I think…I wondered vaguely where he'd gotten them.

"_Arg,_" he howled at me as stepped into the room.

I smiled softly. "I'm sorry no, I don't play basket ball. I'm a soccer fan."

The baboon looked disgusted with me and clambered to the other side of the room.

"You speak baboon?" Annabeth said looking at me in surprise.

"My specialty is animal charming," I said as Ardeth flittered to my shoulder. "I can't speak baboon, per say, but I understand his intent. I can, get the gist, as it were, of what he wants."

"We have a plan," Percy said. "More or less. We sent another Iris message to Camp Half-Blood. Chiron says he might be able to help us with this Loki problem. He doesn't know where Asgard is, but he says that Rachel Elizabeth Dare might be able to help us out."

"Who?" I asked.

"She's our camp Oracle," Annabeth explained.

"Ah," I said. "I see, so our next stop is your Camp. Splendid. How do we get past Fenrir? He's circling the building."

Percy's face broke into a grin.

"I have a plan for that too," he said.

XXX

It turns out Percy's plan was Flying Horses.

When he had contacted Camp Half-Blood he had requested that they send him a flying horse pickup. The way he figured it, Fenrir couldn't fly, so we might just have a shot.

Annika thought he was nuts, I didn't say anything, but I kinda agreed. Percy and Annabeth waited outside on the terrace, while I waited just inside. As we waited for the pickup, I pulled the remains of my staff from the Duat. Fenrir had splintered the staff to shreds, there wasn't much left except shards of wood.

"What's that?" Annika asked as I sorted through the wood.

"My staff," I said. "Or what's left of it. Fenrir made short work of it didn't he?"

"It that the staff you turned into a lion?" she frowning. "I'm sorry."

I shrugged. "No harm done."

"But…it's ruined…won't you have to carve another one?"

"_Hi-Nehm,_" I said. The green hieroglyphs glowed above the staff for a moment, then, the splinters all rolled together and reformed into my staff. I smiled as I picked it up.

"Good as new," I said picking it up.

"Wow," Annika said. "That's handy."

"They're here," Percy said stepping out onto the terrace. I followed, and glanced up at the four winged horses that came swooping in and landed on the terrace next to the pool.

"You got your staff back," Annabeth noticed. "Is that your only weapon?"

I nodded. "My staff is for offensive magic, my wand for defensive. I used to have a _kopesh_ blade, but Heqet transformed it into a poison-dart frog. I haven't bothered to get a new one since."

I had to marvel at the four winged horses, they really were gorgeous animals. Sometimes the Greco-Romans got the better end of the staff, and these animals were definitely that.

Percy mounted a large black stallion. I smiled and mounted a beautiful Arabian mare. I saw Annabeth climb on a roan, and Annika mounted a silver dappled horse. The horses whinnied and took to the air.

"Is that a crocodile in the pool?" Annika asked as we took to the sky. I looked down. Fenrir's reaction was immediate. He saw us and clearly he didn't like us getting away. He began bounding in the same direction we were flying, but stopped when we flew out over the water.

"We can fly over the ocean all the way to camp," Percy called out to me.

Suddenly the horse I was riding bucked, not a good thing in mid-air. I was barely hanging on she was getting violent and scared. It was harder to sense the feelings of this magical Greek hybrid animal, but I did manage to pluck one word from its panic-ridden thoughts.

_Snake._

I saw that the other horses were having similar reactions, except Percy, who seemed to have complete mastery over his animal. I glanced down at the Atlantic Ocean. The water was churning viciously. Suddenly, a massive poison green head burst forth from the water.

It was a gigantic snake, bright green, with yellow eyes similar to Fenrir's. Oh yes, and it was HUGE! Godzilla would have been dwarfed by this serpent. All four of us could have flown into his nostril. His tongue whipped in and out of his mouth lightning fast, the force blowing my horse backwards through the air.

"Apophis?" I wondered staring at the snake in shock.

"JORMUNGAND!" Annika yelled.

Jormungand. The Midgard Serpent. The gargantuan snake who, in Norse mythology, wrapped his entire body around the earth. Also a son of Loki, meaning this snake was Fenrir's brother.

The snake turned and looked at the four winged equines and riders, ocean water pouring off the snake in torrents. I swear that snake smiled, and I could see its fangs, each as thick as the Chrysler building. It snapped at us. The horses panicked, and suddenly I was falling, the horse having bucked me. I was falling towards the ocean. A bizarre hand of water rose up to meet me, catching me before my freefall became too fast and too dangerous to kill me. The hand retreated back to sea level. I glanced up to see Percy looking down at me with concentration and worry all over his face. The demigod had saved my life. He and Annabeth were still atop their horses, still in control somehow.

I threw my staff out of the water, watching it land a few feet away with a splash. The staff expanded, taking animal shape once more, this time transforming it into a large white crocodile with blue eyes instead of a lion.

I gripped the crocodile-staff's back helplessly looking up at Percy and Annabeth, trying in vain to fight the snake. Annika suddenly popped out of the water next to me, and gripped my crocodile.

"That's some staff," she chattered through shaking teeth. We looked up to see Percy attempting to attack the snake with his celestial bronze blade.

"That won't work," Annika said. "Jormungand is like Fenrir. No mortal weapon can harm him."

I glanced at Annika in surprise.

"Percy's sword is celestial bronze," I said. "That's an _immortal_ weapon, not a mortal one. Percy's sword just might work."

Sure enough, the bronze pierced the snakeskin, and blood…or something black similar to blood came spilling out. Of course it was barely a pinprick to the big snake, but still.

I tried to concentrate my magical energies.

"Fire, Air, Water, Earth, Cheese!" I said trying to summon elemental energy. I couldn't tell if I'd even been effective. The water was just too turbulent, if I had summoned one of the elements, it had just been washed away. And the water was too tumultuous to really be controlled.

"Can you do anything?" Annika said seeing the snake lunge at Percy and Annabeth again. "You're supposed to be this big shot Egyptian Magician…well go ahead. Magish."

I focused all of my energy I could on creating a combat avatar. Combat Magic had always been my weakest subject, and it was doubly hard without a _kopesh_ to channel the magic through.

There was a soft glow as my combat avatar surrounded me, I prepared to fight…and then realized that I simply didn't have the energy to create a combat avatar, and I lost consciousness.


	4. I'm Saved by a Deus Ex Machina in PJs

**Clash of the Titans**

**Chapter 4: I'm Saved by a Deus Ex Machina in PJs**

I wasn't out for long. Just long enough to sink down, and for Annika to dive down and pull me back up. I awakened clinging to her back, as my staff had reverted back when I became unconscious. I could see it floating several hundred feet away. I mentally tossed in into my storage bin in the Duat before it floated out of my sight forever. It must have taken some seawater with it because a small whirlpool formed where the staff was.

Jormungand was still towering above us, snapping at Percy, who was just narrowly dodging the snake. The serpent snapped again, and suddenly Percy was tumbling out of the sky, and his horse was flying away. He hit the ocean with a splash, a fall like that would have killed a normal person, but Percy was a demigod child of Poseidon. He broke the surface within seconds.

I couldn't see Annabeth anywhere, and I wondered where she had gone. The Serpent hissed and looked down at us, definitely grinning. He had won and he knew it. I didn't have the energy to cast any spells, and none of us had the strength to face that thing.

But I had forgotten where we were, and in whose element we were in.

"DAD!" Percy cried out. I could see on his face that it was a last ditch effort, that he wasn't expecting anything. Apparently, Poseidon heard him though, because the sea god burst forth out of the water within seconds. He wasn't what I expected at all.

I suppose everyone has this image of what the god of the sea looks like. Something like that old fishy guy in the Little Mermaid. Well, he had the trident…but that was it. He had black hair, and a dark black beard.

I guess he'd just gotten out of bed, because he was wearing blue pajamas with various ocean scenes depicted on them. He wore a sea-green robe over the PJs, with a rolled up newspaper sticking out of the pocket. He had made himself huge, not as big as Jormungand was, but big enough that the ocean only came up to his knees.

The sea literally churned around us with rage. I could feel Poseidon's power over the Atlantic, and the fury in his eyes.

"Get the Hades away from my son," he said to the snake. Jormungand looked panicked. The snake literally backed away from the god, and looked around in terror. Poseidon yelled and raised his arms, a gigantic tidal wave shooting out of the water and slammed into Jormungand and knocking snake under the ocean. The wave skirted around us, and the water we floated in remained calm. Jormungand did not resurface.

"Barbarian gods," Poseidon muttered to himself. He glanced down at us. I could see Annabeth now, she had been on the other side of Jormungand. The wave must have ignored her as well.

Poseidon reached into his robe pocket, and pulled out one of those ship-in-a-bottles. The ship inside was a yacht, he uncorked the bottle and pulled the yacht out (don't ask me how, I don't know) and placed the boat gently in the water.

"The yacht will take you safely to Camp," Poseidon said. "Be careful. There are strange forces brewing. Storm clouds in Alaska and Canada that my brother is not responsible for."

We clambered into the boat, as Poseidon sank underneath the ocean. I had mixed feelings. As a magician, I'm not supposed to rely on gods…but that was pretty cool.

"Your dad is amazing," Annika said to Percy.

Percy smiled half-heartedly.

"Most demigods have parental issues," Percy said. "I didn't actually expect him to show up. He's like the sea, pretty temperamental. I guess we caught him on a good day."

"And the fact that you saved Olympus last year had nothing to do with it," Annabeth said dryly, while trying to squeeze water out of her t-shirt. I noticed that while the three of us were soaking wet. Percy was completely dry. Now I was envious.

The yacht started up by itself and began skimming along the coast.

"I can imagine," I commented. "About the parental issues. I have father issues and my dad was just a magician. You have gods for parents."

"You should have seen the fuss that Annabeth's mom made when we started dating," Percy said. Annabeth scowled at him, and he visibly winced. I remembered that Poseidon and Athena were rivals in the old myths.

"You said you're the daughter of Athena right?" Annika said frowning. "I thought she was one of the virgin goddesses."

"She is," Annabeth said, suddenly looking very uncomfortable. "Let's not get into the specifics of my birth right now okay…let's just say it's very complicated and leave it at that."

There was an awkward silence for about five minutes.

"We're here," Percy said pointing at the coast. I glanced over, seeing a stretch of Long Island coastline. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary about it, but I could sense the magic surrounding it. I bet that the "mist" as Annabeth had put it, was simply hiding the coastline from ordinary eyes.

"Mortals can't enter Camp Half-Blood without permission," Annabeth said to Percy, as though reminding him. "Even extraordinary ones."

"We can't just invite them like you did for Tyson?" Percy asked.

"Tyson was a monster," Annabeth said matter-of-factly. "Not mortal. They need Chiron's permission."  
"And they have it," a voice called out from shore. I glanced over to see a centaur standing it the surf. Chiron was impressive in the Iris message, he was even more so in real life. I suddenly realized I was blushing, and tried to regain some composure as Percy brought the yacht close to the shore.

"Your father sent me an Iris message," Chiron said to Percy. "I must admit that when Blackjack, Porkpie, Guido, and Angel returned, I was concerned."

The four of us clambered out of the boat and walked to shore.

"Xander and Annika I presume," Chiron said bowing politely. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. You are the first Egyptian Magician and Norse Heroine to grace our humble camp."

XXX

Humble would not have been the word I would have used to describe the camp. It was pretty amazing. On our way to the Camp Big House, we passed an archery range, a climbing wall with molten lava pouring down the side, and at least dozen other interesting things. Chiron informed us that the woods surrounding the camp was fully stocked with monsters, should we like to try our luck.

"You are fortunate that Mr. D, the camp director has left," Chiron said frankly as we headed up to the Big House. "He was seriously considering turning you two into bottle-nosed dolphins. Or Diet Cokes. Whichever struck his fancy. Zeus however has become concerned by the storms in Alaska and Canada. Storms that he did not create. He's called an emergency Olympian Council meeting."

We entered a main room in the big house. There was a pair of brothers with identical mischievous smiles who were playing ping-pong. There was also a pale kid with black hair and a leather jacked sitting quietly in the corner.

"I'm afraid that Rachel can't give you any insights on Ragnarok, Percy," Chiron said. "It seems that mixing magic is somewhat dangerous and unpredictable. I had some books on the subject brought to the Athena cabin, Annabeth. They're waiting for you there."

"Thanks," she said.

"I'd like a couple of those myself if you don't mind," I said.

"That shouldn't be a problem," Chiron said. "The real problem is finding a place for you two to stay while you're here. Mr. D doesn't want you in the big house. The Hermes Cabin volunteered to take in Miss Annika, but they flat out said no to Xander. Apparently Hermes doesn't like Egyptians."

"Hermanubis strikes again," I said smirking.

"We should make a cabin to the Unknown God," Annabeth said jokingly. "For guests like these two."

"That's not a bad idea Annabeth," Chiron said. "We had a great deal of trouble finding a cabin that seemed appropriate for you."

"I volunteered to take you in," the pale kid said smiling and standing up. "I don't think my dad will mind. The Egyptians have always had a morbid fascination with death."

A chill ran down my spine.

"Who did you say was your father?" I asked.

"Xander," Percy said. "This is my cousin, Nico Di Angelo. Son of Hades."

XXX

"I didn't think that there would be this many cabins," I said looking around. "I thought that there would be 12 for the Olympian gods and maybe a thirteenth for Hades."

Thunder cracked when I said Hades. Nico smirked.

"Cabin Thirteen is Hades," He said.

"But last summer, the gods swore on the river Styx to honor all of the minor gods. So all of the gods have cabins here now." Nico explained as we entered his cabin. It was black, with braziers on either side of the door. Green flames flickered within the braziers. "In fact, we're still building cabins. Ganymede, Hebe, Heracles, Eris, and Eros's cabins were just started last week."

The interior of the Hades cabin was actually quite cozy. There was a fireplace (with more green flame) several bunk beds with black pillows and sheets. It was clear Nico was the only inhabitant of this cabin, as his stuff was all over the place. I noticed that one of the beds was cover with Trading Cards.

"Mythomagic?" I said frowning at the cards.

"Yeah," Nico said. "I know it's kind of an odd thing for a demigod to play, but hey, I'm still a kid."

I nodded. "Actually my cousin plays this game," I said. "He even built me a deck last Christmas. I tossed it in my storage bin in the Duat. I haven't touched it since. Hold on…"

I imagined my bin in the Duat. I mentally moved aside my wand, kit, several tons of seawater, until I found the little box that my cousin had given me. I pulled it out and the box appeared in my hands.

I opened it up and pulled the cards out. I handed them to Nico who began flipping through them.

"Nice deck," he said approvingly. "Death theme. Anubis, Osiris, Cerberus, Styx, Thoth, Ammut…Hey, you've got the card version of my Dad. Hades is really rare. And…Odin…well he's a Storm god. That doesn't fit…unless..."

He flipped through the cards rapidly.

"Unless…you have a 'Valhalla, Divine Location' card. Oh those are even rarer than Hades cards. I'm impressed. Your little cousin knew what he was doing."

"I never said he was my _little_ cousin," I replied. "I'm 21, he's 27. Owns a card shop in Soho. London, not New York."

"Ah…" Nico said handing me back the deck. "Well, nevertheless we should play sometime. With a deck like that, you could give me a run for my money."

"I'd like that," I said putting the cards back in the box, and tossing the box back into the Duat. "But not right now, perhaps after all of this Ragnarok business."

"I'll hold you to that," he said. There was a knock on the cabin door. Nico moved passed me and opened it. Chiron stood in the doorway. He was much too small to enter, but his face looked grave.

"I wanted you to know, that Fenrir was spotted near the camp borders," He said. I jerked violently

"That was quick," I replied.

"He shouldn't be able to get in," Chiron said. "The Camp has excellent magical defenses. But I suspect that he's tracking your scent through magical places. Every time you hid in a magic location, such as Manhattan, or the Per Ankh headquarters in Brooklyn, or here, he can track you more easily."

"I'll make a note of that thank you," I said. We walked from the Hades Cabin to the Athena cabin, which was decorated like a miniature Parthenon, with Owls carved into it. We stood at the doorway as Annabeth came out carrying a stack of books with titles like _Norse Mythology and You,_ _Ragnarok for Dummies,_ and _A History of Vikings and Norse Gods; Annotated Edition._

"Here you go Xander," she said handing me the books. I groaned, and then quickly dumped them in the Duat.

"Hey where's your falcon?" Annabeth asked.

I shrugged. "Ardeth comes and goes as he pleases. He's around. He'll find me when he needs too."

That's when a swirling vortex of sand appeared inside the Athena Cabin. It looked something like a sideways hourglass. I recognized it immediately, an Egyptian Portal. There was a shudder and a young girl tumbled out of the portal.

"What in the world?" Chiron said shocked.

The vortex vanished and sand poured out all over the floor of the Athena cabin. I noticed a model of the Washington Monument on a table inside. The model melted.

The girl, who was dressed in all white cotton stood up and dusted herself off. She had long dark hair and blue eyes. I knew her well, as she was my best friend, Ziva Fazahl.

"Wow," she said grinning at me. "I can't believe that worked!"

"You opened a portal to Camp Half-Blood?" I said in shock. Ziva always was talented, but this surprised even me. The camps defenses should have prevented the portal from forming. Not to mention that there were no Egyptian artifacts to lock onto. Except, apparently, a plastic model.

"You know this girl?" Chiron asked.

"How did you do that?" I asked.

"Well, it wasn't easy," she said. "I overheard through the grapevine that there was some kind of trouble in the states with the Greco-Roman gods and that an Egyptian magician was involved. Naturally I figured it was you."

I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." I said.

"Well…it _was_ you," she replied. "And then I heard Amos Kane knew the details, so I contacted him and he told me you'd gone here."

"That doesn't explain how you got here," Annabeth said, still staring at Ziva. "Or how you breached our defenses."

"Oh don't get your panties in a bunch," she said. "I didn't think it would work. I used Khufu's pyramid to create a portal. Portal magic is pretty common Egyptian magic."

"Khufu's…what were you doing in the First Nome?" I asked. Ziva was stationed in Heidelberg, Germany; the 16th Nome.

She shrugged.

"Don't worry," I said. "Annabeth, Chiron, this is Ziva Fazahl, a friend of mine. I presume that she can stay in the Hades cabin with Nico and me?"

Chiron looked annoyed. "I'd rather not have any random visitors just popping into my camp thank you."

"Oh they can't," I said. "I promise. She punched through your defenses with the sheer power of the Great Pyramid of Giza. There's a lot of magic stored in that structure. The only other object with that much power is the Washington Monument. The Pyramid needs to cool down before another magician can use it. Twelve hours."

"Plus," Ziva said. "Desjardins is using the Washington Monument to arrive in the US at around 3:30 this afternoon. No one else will use it before him, and no one can use it for twelve hours afterwards. Your camp is safe."

"In addition," I said stepping into the cabin and picking up the melted Washington Monument model. "She melted the only object capable of facilitating her arrival. She closed the door behind her so to speak."

"That was mine," Annabeth said frowning. "And the Washington Monument isn't Egyptian."

"You're telling me that a gigantic obelisk built on the banks of a river isn't Egyptian?" I asked. "When it was built doesn't matter. It's still Egyptian. Still works."

"Very well," Chiron said sighing. "She may stay."

"So," Ziva said rubbing her hands together and looking at me. "What did you do?"

XXX

Ziva and I sat on the beach watching the sunset. We had eaten with the campers, but had slipped away after the meal.

"You've messed up royally," she said. "Ragnarok. Who knew the Norse gods were even real?"

I grunted in assent. We sat in silence as the sun slowly began to dip below the horizon.

"You know you used to be fun," she commented after about a minute. "You remember that time during training when we snuck into Desjardin's quarters and transformed those fruit bats of his into platypuses?"

I chuckled. "Yes, he was furious. Iskandar made us mop the whole courtyard with no magic, but it was worth it. Desjardins was asking for it."

She laughed. "There's the Xand Sands that I know and love. What happened to him?"

I glowered. "You know what happened."

She shifted uncomfortably. "Look, Malik and I broke up…if that's any consolation."

I shook my head and got up. "It was never about Malik. It was about you."

"Can we discuss something else?" she said softly.

"I spoke with Carter and Sadie Kane," I said. Ziva's eyes darkened.

"I think they are right," I said. "I think that the time of banishing gods is over. We need to start working with them, especially if Apophis is rising."

"Last thing I expected to hear from you," she said. "Especially after what happened to your dad."

"That's not fair," I said to her glaring. She winced, I knew she had regretted the words as soon as she had said them, but I wasn't going to let it go.

"And it isn't fair of me to blame all the gods for the actions of one," I said. "Sokkar killed my dad, and he did it alone. If I encounter Sokkar, I'll banish him. I might just give other gods the benefit of the doubt. Plus, as bad as Sokkar is, Apophis is worse."

"The gods caused the fall of Egypt," she countered.

"Did they?" I asked earnestly. "Or did we? The House of Life has become pretty corrupt lately. There was a time when magicians worked with the gods, not against them."

"It was Iskandar who instituted that rule," Ziva said.

"And it was Thoth's idea," I said. "Yes, I know the story. And it worked well for 2,000 years…but if Apophis is rising, and we must assume he is since Bast is no longer keeping him in check, then the House needs to change its stance. We're powerful, but we don't have the strength to face the Dark Serpent."

Ziva looked troubled. She clearly couldn't think of a good argument, but was too stubborn to admit that she might be wrong.

"You might consider talking to Thoth," I said. Thoth was the only god still respected by the Per Ankh, and the only one still allowed in our headquarters.

"No one knows where Thoth is," Ziva countered.

"Memphis, Tennessee," I replied.

"How…?"

"I told you," I said. "I spoke with the Kanes. They met Thoth, and he's in Memphis."

"The Kanes…," she started to say, and looked like she was about to make some point when I heard the sound of a wolf howling.

"Fenrir!" I said leaping to my feet. "He's breached the camp's defenses."

"How?" Ziva asked, leaping to her feet as well. I recalled my staff and wand from the Duat. Ziva did the same, pulling her golden serpent-shaped staff with ruby eyes from the Duat. We began running toward the main camp, where I heard the sounds of voices, all yelling and screaming.

"You!" I said suddenly to Ziva.

"What?"

"Your portal was just as bad as my rainbow," I continued. "I bet you weakened the camp's defenses when you arrived."

Ziva started swearing in Egyptian. We found Fenrir amongst the cabins. He had already knocked two of the minor god-cabins down, and was now tearing into the Hermes Cabin, trying to tear it apart.

_Oh duh!_ I realized. _Fenrir's been chasing Annika all this time. He doesn't care about me. He's after her, doesn't want her to get to Asgard._

Ardeth had indeed returned, and was chirping and circling Fenrir's head, trying to get at the wolf's face. Ziva and I looked at each other and then threw our staffs down. Once again, mine became a large white lion.

Ziva's staff transformed into a large Egyptian Cobra. Ziva was a traditionalist, and staff-into-snake was the most traditional transformation one could do.

We knew each other's magic styles well and knew how to compliment each other. My lion leapt onto Fenrir's back, the wolf howled in rage and pulled back from the Hermes Cabin. Ziva's snake wrapped around Fenrir's forepaw and began biting over and over again.

I glanced at the cabin, the wolf had knocked down the entire wall, and I could see Annika inside with her steel sword drawn, she had be trying to dissuade the wolf from attacking her.

She took advantage of the wolf's distraction and ran out of the cabin to join us.

"Ziva, Annika, Annika, Ziva," I said quickly, my wand raised defensively. Ziva's cobra kept striking Fenrir's foot, but it was having no effect on the wolf. The canine shook violently and my lion tumbled off. Fenrir took a massive snap at my lion and bit him in half. The two have transformed back into staff pieces.

He then lunged at the snake and bit the cobra in half as well.

"_Hi-Nehm,_" Ziva and I said at once. The halves of our staffs flew together and leapt into our hands. Our magic has always been more potent together, but this time it was almost surreal, because our spell repaired the side of the Hermes Cabin as well. We both looked at one another in surprise.

The wolf began growling and slowly stalking forward towards us. A celestial bronze spear suddenly flew out of nowhere and struck the wolf in the neck. The same black tar that had gushed out of Jormungand's neck came out of Fenrir's.

"For Ares!" a girl crowed and charged at the wolf with a bunch of her cabin-mates.

Suddenly I felt a hand clamp down on my shoulder. I jerked and spun around. It was Percy, Annabeth, and Nico.

"I almost turned you into a sugar glider," I said gasping. Percy removed his hand.

"He got in," Annabeth said, glaring pointedly at Ziva. I knew she had guessed, as I had, what had happened. "Clarisse and the Ares cabin can slow him down, and there are a ton of monsters in the woods that won't take kindly to him invading their turf."

She turned and led us into the woods on the other side of the camp. We ran flat for at least five minutes. Looking around we were surrounded by trees, and I could feel eyes watching us. I drew a Wadjet with my wand just to be safe.

"Now what?" Annika asked.

"Chiron said that magical places are easier for him to find us in," I said. "So we need to get out of here and go someplace…normal, not magical."

"Can you do that dust portal thing?" Annabeth asked me.

"Not without an Egyptian artifact to channel the power through," I replied.

"You said it didn't matter when the object was built right?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah," I said. "The Washington Monument works because it's an obelisk. Obelisks and pyramids are the easiest portals."

"Hold on a second," Nico said. He closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate. A moment later a ten foot tall obsidian black obelisk burst out of the ground in front of us. Nico shuddered and collapsed to the ground. I immediately leapt to his side and helped him up.

"Will that work?" he asked weakly. Percy took Nico's arm and started supporting his cousin.

"Yes," Ziva said placing her hand on the pillar. "I can feel Egyptian magic settling in the obelisk already. But we must hurry. Once the sun has set we can't open another portal till midnight."

"How did you do that?" Annika asked Nico as I drew the 'Open' symbols on the black obelisk.

"My dad controls the minerals and precious stones in the earth," Nico said. "I just sort of…asked for an allowance."

"Where are we going?" I asked suddenly. "Washington Monument was used at 3:30. It hasn't cooled down yet, so we can't go there."

"Asgard," Annika suggested. I shrugged.

"Asgard." I said. Nothing happened. We heard the sound of Fenrir howling. He must have passed through the Ares campers and was in the woods.

"Muncie, Indiana," Ziva said.

"What's in Muncie?" Annika asked.

"Nothing, that's the point. The place is so boringly mortal; Fenrir will never be able to smell us there. Hurry though, the sun is almost down."

"Muncie, Indiana," I said. A portal burst open. Ardeth flittered out of the wood and flew in first.

"Fenrir's close," I said. "Go!"

Ziva dove into the portal, followed by Percy and Nico, and then Annabeth.

"Isn't this mixing Greek and Egyptian magic again?" Annika asked. "Didn't that…not work out well last time?"

Fenrir came barreling out of the woods towards us, his fur was matted and he had quite a few cuts and slashes on his body.

"Do you want to take your chances?" I asked gesturing towards the wolf. She shook her head and dove into the portal. I followed a second later, realizing as we tumbled through that Annika was right. I had no idea if the portal would even take us to Muncie.


	5. Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

**Clash of the Titans**

**Chapter 5: Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf**

We tumbled out of the sand and onto a riverbank. I noticed a carved wooden obelisk sitting on the shore, shuddering as we fell out. We were surrounded by woods, and I could see the sun in the sky, lazily drifting downwards. We were in a different time zone, but I had no idea if we were in Muncie or not.

"We made it," Ziva said. "This is the White River. I made the obelisk over there the last time I was here. Four or five years ago."

My stomach rumbled.

"We just ate," Annabeth said.

"Magic taps into your personal reserves," I said. "Portal magic is simple, but requires a lot of energy. A good magician can't manage more than one or two portals a day. The first time I made a portal, I was unconscious for 3 hours."

"Let's head into the city and get Xander some food," Ziva suggested.

I nodded, clambering to my feet; I tottered back, weaker than I thought I'd been. Maybe the mixing magic had simply drained more of my reserves. I steadied myself on my staff.

"Maybe just two of us," Ziva said noticing my condition.

XXX

"Norse gods are really a very noble bunch," Annabeth said, looking up from _A History of Vikings and Norse Gods; Annotated Edition. _"Odin gave up his eye, and then hung himself on the roots of a giant tree just to gain wisdom. Almost died. Apparently the Norse gods can be killed…they're mortal, so to speak."

"For wisdom?" Annika said.

"It seems that self-sacrifice is a big deal," Annabeth said. "To get to the Norse Heaven, Valhalla—which is in Asgard—you actually have to die a noble death in battle. The epitome of self sacrifice. Nothing else would work. Honorable death in battle."

"To save lives in battle," Annika murmured. "I wish I could be hero like that."

"Not the worst death out there," Nico said. "Though I'm not sure how that works…I go to the Underworld all the time. How can my Dad be collecting souls and Valhalla too?"

"I don't know," I said to Nico. "But here's a thought, the Egyptians believed that the soul had five parts, which separated at death. That was the point of mummification, to reunite the 5 parts. Ignore for a moment that two of the parts are the body and the name. There's still three parts still wandering…perhaps one goes to Hades, one to Valhalla—,"

"Or Nifleheim," Annabeth said. "Where souls who don't die in battle go."

"Yes," I said. "And the third goes to…somewhere else. Maybe Duat…maybe Heaven…who knows. Just something to chew on. Maybe there's even more than 5 parts…just saying…"

"Yeah," Nico said, glancing down at his sword and fidgeting.

Ardeth suddenly chirped worriedly from the tree above me. It had been over an hour since Ziva and Percy had left to get food. I wasn't as weak as I had been, but I was hungry.

"Ardeth is concerned," I said. "There's something evil nearby. He can sense it. It reminds me of a demon I banished in Germany."

"Fenrir?" Annika asked.

"If it was Fenrir," I said. "He'd probably be here by now. No, this evil thing is nearby, but not actively looking for us."

"You probably shouldn't say his name," Nico suggested. "With Greek gods and monsters, if you say their names, it's like flagging them down in a crowded street. They won't notice you unless you call them."

"What should we call him then?" Annika asked him.

"The Big Bad Wolf?"

A raccoon clambered out of a hollow tree and started gurgling at me. After a minute he clambered up a different tree and started hopping from tree to tree.

"The raccoon is going to rally some of his friends and keep an eye out for us," I said. "God my life is a Disney Movie."

"Can all of you mages do that?" Nico asked me. "That talking to animals thing? Cuz Percy can speak Horse. And I think I heard a Nighthawk once, an animal sacred to my dad."

"No," I replied. "I'm an animal charmer, animals are my talent. It's easier with animals that have an Egyptian connection, like falcons, hippos, lions, crocodiles, jackals, etc. But I can communicate with almost any animal I come across. Ziva is a necromancer."

"We're back," Ziva said sliding down the riverbank; she and Percy were carrying Subway bags. Ziva knew my Subway preference and tossed me one of the bags. I pulled out the sandwich and started snarfing the sub down.

Percy handed Annabeth and Nico subs, and Ziva gave another sandwich to Annika.

"Didn't know what you'd want," Ziva said. "So I gave you the same kind as Xander."

"Shush," I said suddenly. I quickly tossed the sandwich into the Duat. It would keep better there then in the deep-freeze. The forest had suddenly grown still and quiet. Too quiet, when the woods are quiet it means one of two things…a predator nearby…or something evil.

Ziva recalled her staff from the Duat at the same time she tossed her own sandwich in. Percy and Nico drew swords, and looked around. Suddenly Annika gasped in fear. She drew her own steel blade and stepped back.

A horse came ambling through the wood. It was no ordinary horse though, for one, it had three legs, built like a tricycle. One leg in front, three in the back. Its coat was jet black, but white-hot fire crackled along its neck, where the mane should be. Its coal-black eyes looked at us with utter loathing.

"A Helhest," Annika whispered clearly terrified. "One of Hel's servants."

"I've been to Hell," Nico said turning towards the beast. "Hell, my dad runs Hell."

"Not that Hell," Annika said. "Hel, H-E-L. Loki's daughter, The Big Bad Wolf, and Jormungand's sister. As bad as those two are…Hel is a million times worse."

"The Snake was Wolfie's brother?" Percy asked.

The creature let out a cry that sounded like a cross between a whinny and a roar and then it charged, jets of fire flaring from its nostrils. I saw Ziva surround herself with her combat avatar. A black jackal headed female warrior with ebony wings sprouting from her back. Sort of like those Anubis-Warriors from The Mummy Returns, but female, and with wings.

I tried to concentrate on my own combat avatar, but I didn't really have the energy, and as I may have mentioned before…I suck at combat magic.

Turns out it wasn't necessary. The creature didn't get more than ten feet when suddenly there were three arrows sticking out of its neck. The arrows had apparently come from three different directions, and a moment later there were three more. And then three more.

The monster began to dissolve into gold dust before our eyes. The arrows clattered to the ground.

"Percy, Annabeth, Nico," a voice called from nearby. "Why is it that whenever I run into you guys you're always in some sort of trouble?"

XXX

She had spikey brown hair, and sky blue eyes. She had a bow and quiver full of arrows, slung over her shoulders, and she wore a silver dress.

She led us away from the river banks and to an encampment in the middle of a corn field.

"Annika, Ziva, Xander," Percy had said. "This is my other cousin, Thalia, daughter of Zeus, Lieutenant for the Hunter's of Artemis."

I knew my mythology well, and I certainly knew who Artemis was, but on her hunters I was a little vague. I knew well, that Artemis was not fond of males, but she was the patron goddess of virgins. I was a virgin, and so was Ziva (at least the last time I checked…that might have changed.) I didn't know if Annika was. I wasn't going to ask.

Thalia was camped out with three other girls. The first was the 15 year old girl with long brown hair, and light blue eyes. She glared at me pointedly as Thalia brought us into her camp. And she also glared at Percy and Nico.

The second was a gorgeous blond of about 16. I'm no perv, but this girl was simply beauty incarnate, my heart skipped a beat when she winked at me. She had honey-blond hair and light green eyes. When she gave me a sort of half wave, the first girl elbowed her hard in the ribs. This broke the little spell that she had pulled over me, and I realized I'd been staring. I quietly drew another Wadjet in the air and moved away from her.

The third girl was a small Japanese girl of 16. She had almond eyes, long black hair, and an almost forlorn expression. All three girls wore the same silver dress that Thalia wore, but Thalia also wore a discrete silver tiara, presumably denoting some higher rank.

"Those horse things are all over the Midwest," Thalia said flopping down on a beanbag chair in the middle of their camp. They had four tents set up in a square, a fire in the center, and beanbag chairs in a circle. Ten, exactly the amount needed to accommodate all of us. There was a large haunch of venison roasting over the fire.

"Artemis doesn't know what they are," she said. "But it's deer season and those things are attacking hunters. A good way to get our lady pissed off is to target those she patrons. Young girls, virgins, and hunters. She had us split up into groups of 3 or 4, and told us to exterminate them."

The Japanese girl came out of her tent with a tray full of tea cups she offered me one. I politely took it.

"Amaya!" the brunette snapped.

"They are guests," she said looking upset.

"_Male_ guests," The first girl snapped back. I noticed a distinct southern accent, Louisiana I think. New Orleans is the 23rd Nome, and one that's always worth visiting.

Amaya looked distressed and returned to her tent, taking the tea with her. I nervously and discretely tossed the teacup into my bin in the Duat.

"Four hundred years and she still can't break that stupid sexist habit," the brunette said.

"Shane," Thalia said in a warning tone to the brunette. Shane fell silent.

"Amaya is the daughter of a Japanese warlord," Thalia explained. "She's been with the Hunters a long time. Shane, you've been here less than a decade."

Shane bit her lip, I got the feeling she didn't like Thalia being of higher rank than her, but whatever she had to say she kept it to herself.

"Finn," Thalia said to the blond. "Would you and Percy go and get some more firewood? We're low."

"Is it wise to send her off with a boy?" Shane said.

"I trust my cousin," Thalia said. "And Finn may be a daughter of Aphrodite, but she's still a Hunter. Plus, Percy's girlfriend is right _here_. They'll be fine."

_Aha _I realized. A daughter of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty; that explained why I'd become so enamored so quickly. Shane winced and glared at Annabeth when Thalia said 'girlfriend.'

"Why would a child of Aphrodite join the Hunters?" Annabeth asked, pointedly ignoring Shane's glare.

"To get back at her mom," Thalia said shrugging. "Sick of her mother messing with her love-life. It happens once or twice a century. Most don't last, and end up getting turned into bears. Finn has lasted longer than most, although we had a girl from Elizabethan England who was a daughter of Aphrodite. She died when Kronos' forces attacked New York."

"You can tell Artemis that my dad _did_ expedite the paperwork," Nico said. "All those Hunters did achieve Elysium, but about half decided to try for the Isles of the Blest."

"Thanks Nico," Thalia said. "I'll pass that along when she get's back. Zeus called an emergency council meeting, so she's gone right now, but she was traveling with the four of us."

Nico winced. I got the distinct impression that he didn't like Artemis.

"I think that I'll head back to camp shortly," Nico said. "Make sure everyone's okay."

"What happened at camp?" Thalia said sitting upright and sounding concerned.

"It was attacked by a giant wolf," Percy said returning with the firewood. "It's kind of a long story."

"Is there a short version?" Thalia asked.

"We accidently triggered the Norse Apocalypse," Annika said. "So we're heading to Asgard to warn the Norse gods."

"Why are you in Muncie?" Thalia asked. "Asgard is in Canada."

"We know," Annabeth said. "But we don't know exact—wait, how did you know it was in Canada?"

Thalia shrugged. "Because I've been there. It's at the Fairmont Banff Lodge in Alberta, Canada. It's really a beautiful place; you can see why the Norse gods like it so much."

Our jaws dropped.

"Wait," I said. "I got the distinct impression that the Greek gods didn't even know about Asgard."

"They know," Thalia said. "They just don't talk about it much. The Olympians tend to think of the Aesir as barbarians. They don't like to associate. Artemis on the other hand has always treated them as equals, so she's got an open invitation to Asgard. The Hunters drop by at least once a season. Sometimes more. Those Viking ghosts know how to party. They're always hitting on us. It's kinda funny actually."

"No it's not." Shane said. "I don't like guys touching me…dead or alive."

"Lighten up, Shane," Finn replied. "They're dead. What's the harm in letting them have a little hope? They don't have much else."

"Right now what we need is a way to get there, fast," Percy said.

"Well," Thalia considered. "A Bifrost Bridge is a pretty fast way. It will get you near Asgard. Only gods may use the Bifrost to go directly there, but mortals come out pretty close. They still have to cross the troll bridge though."

"You mean toll bridge right?" I asked.

"I meant what I said," Thalia replied. "Hey wait a second…if the Norse gods are stirring…that might be what's causing the storms in Alaska and Canada. Odin and Thor are almost as powerful as my dad. I need to tell Artemis."

"Can you get us a Bifrost bridge?" Annika asked.

Thalia shook her head. "Heimdall only opens them for Lady Artemis. Maybe you could shadow travel?"

She looked at Nico when she said this.

"No," Nico said. "I barely have enough energy to get me back to camp, and I _do_ think someone should check back in at camp."

"Go now," Percy said to Nico. "We'll be okay."

Nico nodded and suddenly vanished, disappearing into shadow. No sooner had he done this, then we heard an all too familiar howl.

"Bloody _Isfet_," Ziva said leaping to her feet. In a heartbeat all 9 of us were standing in a loose circle.

"Do we have time to get the sons of Horus out?" Ziva whispered to me.

I immediately pulled four statues out of my bin in the Duat. Duamutef; a Jackal-Head god, Quebhensuf; a Falcon-Headed god, Hapi; a Baboon-Headed god, and Imsety, a human headed deity.

Ziva took Duamutef and Imsety, she then handed them to Percy and Thalia.

"Falcon faces north, the jackal west, the human east and the baboon south," I said handing them to the confused looking Hunters.

"Who are these two?" Thalia asked as Ziva began to draw a giant circle with her staff.

"Egyptian Magicians," Annabeth said.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"All right," I said. "This should afford some protection."

"Will work against the Big Bad Wolf?" Annika asked.

"I…have no idea," I said. Fenrir came barreling out of the trees and bounding towards us; he stopped just a hundred feet from the circle.

"_**Your mistake was killing the ****Helhest**,_" a deep voice declared. It didn't so much speak as it resonated in my brain. "_**I never would have found you otherwise. Very clever, seeking an area so horribly MORTAL that I could never in a thousand years catch your scent. Now you will die and I shall drink a river of blood."**_

It took me a moment to realize that it was Fenrir speaking.

"You know," Percy said stepping forward. "I'm getting sick of running from this guy."

"Stop!" I said. "If you break the circle the barrier drops."

"You don't even know if it will keep him out," Percy countered.

"It won't at all if you break the circle," I said.

"What about arrows?" Shane asked me. I blinked.

"Your arrows should work…," I said. "They won't break the circle."

Thalia smiled, and all four hunters drew the bows and aimed at Fenrir. Ziva and I quickly drew two eyes of Horus in the air, creating a double-barrier.

"This is just a stopgap," Ziva said. "That thing is still going to break through eventually."

She reached into her pouch and pulled out a small smattering of dust. She held her palm open and blew the dust out of the barrier. As soon as the dust crossed the barrier, they began transforming into various mummified animals. An ibis, a falcon, a hippo, a crocodile, and four dozen cats, all mummified, yet walking and moving around as though they were alive.

"Mummy dust," she said grinning. The animals charged Fenrir, at the same time the Hunters began pelting him with arrows.

"That's creepy," Percy said looking at the mummies. Fenrir was ignoring the hail of arrows, and began tearing Ziva's mummies apart.

"It's also not working," She said.

"At least the barrier is holding," Annabeth said.

"What makes you so sure it is?" Annika asked.

"Look at the way Fenrir's ripping apart those mummies. If he could get at us…he would have by now."

"I wish we hadn't accidently jacked your rainbow," Percy said.

"That's it!" I said suddenly. "We'll hijack another rainbow! Maybe this time, instead of Annika, we'll get a Norse god. Or at least someone who can fight Fenrir with half a shot at beating him."

"We would have to drop the barrier," Ziva said. "It keeps everyone out. We can't summon something inside this circle unless it was already there."

"I can stall Fenrir while you get the rainbow going." Percy said reaching into his pocket and pulling out an Oreo-sized gold coin. He handed it to Annabeth.

"That's suicide." I said, looking at the mummies. There were only half a dozen cats, the crocodile, and the two birds left.

"No it isn't," Annabeth replied. "Percy has bathed in the river Styx. He's invulnerable, like Achilles. He's the only one of us with a shot."

"Didn't Achilles have a vulnerable spot?" I said looking at Annabeth. She looked at me pointedly, and suddenly something clicked in my head. I remembered the aura around him that I had felt when we met.

"Oh!" I said. I turned towards Percy. "Be careful."

I waved my staff, returning the Sons of Horus to the Duat. The barrier shattered, and Percy charged out of the circle at lightning fast speeds. The Hunters followed suit, leaving Annika, Annabeth, Ziva and myself.

I drew the symbols for rainbow in the air again. The rainbow shimmered into existence in front of us once more. Annabeth flipped her coin into the rainbow, and it vanished once again.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow," she said. "Nico Di Angelo, at Camp Half-Blood."

The rainbow shimmered, and Nico's face appeared. He glanced up in surprise.

"Hey Annabeth, what's up?" he asked. "The Big Bad Wolf is gone, and it looks like no one was hurt. Some of the cabins are in terrible condition though."

"Yeah," she said. "Fenrir's here now, he found us."

"What!" Nico said jerking suddenly. "I…ry…oudn't…ft. Sh…ow"

Nico's image faded out, and was then replaced by a ten foot tall man. He wore a silver helmet with wings branching off the sides. He wore a plaid lumberjack's shirt, and a pair of jeans, which was an odd contrast to his helmet. He had a thick red beard, and sparkling blue eyes. And in his hands was an enormous hammer.

The rainbow dissipated around him and he looked around in confusion.

"Thor!" Thalia said.

"You're Artemis's new lieutenant," he said frowning. "Where am I? How did I get here?"

"We sort of…summoned you…," Annabeth explained.

"Why would the children of the southern gods call for…?" He stopped, clearly having noticed Percy fighting Fenrir. Fenrir lunged and picked up the demigod in his jaws. And the wolf's teeth shattered.

"_**What the Hel are you?**_" Fenrir demanded. "_**That you have the strength and powers of a god, but still smell mortal.**_"

"**FENRIR!**" Thor bellowed. His voice was now like thunder. In fact a storm began forming over the land. "**Loki-Spawn. You shall taste the wrath of Mjolnir!"**

Fenrir suddenly looked panicked. He dropped Percy to the ground and backed away from Thor with his tail between his legs. Suddenly he howled. The ground shook and over a hundred Helhests burst out of the ground around him. The wolf barred his teeth, which had re-grown, and growled at the god.

"**HEIMDALL!**" Thor bellowed. "**Make me a Bifrost Bridge. I want these mortals to safety. Take them to ASGARD!"**

A rainbow shot down out of the sky, and began searching the ground like a spotlight. We'd hijacked a Bifrost bridge before, but this was the real thing. The beam hit Annika first, and she dissolved like a rapidly melting sugar cube in water. Then the beam hit Percy, and the same thing occurred. The Rainbow beam shot across the field and hit me, and I watched with interest as my own body dissolved into nothing.


	6. We Get Directions from a SpiderHorse

**Clash of the Titans**

**Chapter 6: We Get Directions from a Spider-Horse**

You would think that traveling by rainbow would be a pleasant experience. You know, like in those dumb Care Bears movies where the Care Bears go sliding down a rainbow. Maybe it would feel like a waterslide, since rainbows are light refracting off water droplets. An almost pleasant sensation is what you'd be expecting.

And you'd be wrong. The Bifrost bridge, it BURNED! It was like sliding down a waterslide…if you replaced the water with acid, and the slide was a hot tin slide, and there was a hoop of flames every three feet. It seriously hurt! I'm pretty sure I screamed in agony. I couldn't see anything but a wall of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and purple, and I doubt anyone could hear me, but I screamed anyway.

Then, the pain stopped. Instantly. There were no burns, or even the residual pain that is left over when you've burned yourself.

I collapsed out of the rainbow, and groaned, my vision was filled with stars, and I could barely take in my surroundings. Percy and Annika were helping me to my feet, I glanced around; we were in a forest, in a small clearing. The rainbow was a few feet away.

I nodded to Percy and leaned on my staff. He let go, but Annika held on to me. There was a small flash and Ardeth Bay tumbled out of the rainbow and collapsed to the ground.

I didn't care how dazed I was, my falcon was in trouble. I pushed Annika away and rushed to his side. I gingerly picked him up in my arms. He let out a weak chirp.

"No," I replied laughing. "Rainbows are not as much fun to fly through as portals."

There was another flash within the rainbow and Annabeth materialized. Percy was at her side in a heartbeat.

"Sorry," Annika said. "I should have warned you guys about that."

"Yeah," Percy said. "That was like bathing in the Styx again. But less pleasant."

Annabeth snorted and started laughing, and then she groaned.

"Don't make me laugh, Percy," she said.

Suddenly the rainbow vanished. The four of us looked at one another in panic.

"Where's Ziva?" I asked.

"And the Hunters?" Annabeth said.

"And where are we now?" Annika wondered.

"I'm thinking the Canadian Rockies," I guessed. "I'm betting we're near Asgard. Remember, Thalia said mortals can't go there directly. We have to cross a toll bridge."

"Troll bridge," Annabeth corrected.

"Yeah, whatever," I said. I guess Ardeth felt better now, because he struggled out of my arms and took to the sky.

"So," Percy said. "What now?"

"Now," Annika said. "We go the rest of the way to Asgard. And hope that our friends are okay."

"Great," I said. "Which way is Asgard?"

We were in a small clearing, perhaps a hundred meters across, surrounded on all sides by forest.

"Great!" Annabeth muttered. "We could end up going in the completely in the wrong direction."

Ardeth let out a series of chirps from the tree had had perched in.

"Who would we ask for directions?" I said shooting down the bird's suggestion. He chirped a reply. I blinked and turned around, at the edge of the clearing, grazing on grass, was a horse.

XXX

It was a very pretty horse; its coat was a midnight blue, with silver dapples all over its body. This made it remind me distinctly of the night sky. The thing was…it also had more legs than an ordinary horse. Eight. It was kinda freaky. Four forelegs, and four hind legs.

"Sleipnir!" Annika cried.

We all looked at her expectantly.

"Odin's battle stallion!" she said enthusiastically.

Percy and I glanced at one another and then sighed. The two of us slowly approached the octo-horse. We didn't want to spook him, but he glanced up inquisitively as we approached him.

"Hi," Percy said.

_Hello,_ the horse replied clearly in my mind. I was surprised, since mostly I got impressions from animals, not full words or sentences.

"Um…, do you know how to get to Asgard?" Percy asked.

The horse whinnied as though offended.

_Of course,_ he said. _I _am_ Odin's steed. What do you take me for you silly little half-god?_

"Sorry," I said apologizing for Percy. "Can you direct us to Asgard? Please."

_That's better,_ he said. _You're not far. Head southwest about…what's the modern human measurement? I'm not sure, half a stadia? Yes, well, go about half a stadia. You'll find the railroad tracks. Follow the tracks west. You'll arrive in Asgard after about a day's journey._

"Thanks," I said, "We appreciate it."

_Be careful,_ Sleipnir said. _My mother is aware that you are questing for Asgard. He is prepared to stop you; he doesn't like it when people interfere with his plans._

"Did you say that your mother was a he?" Percy said.

Sleipnir whinnied in offense again.

_What, so a male god can't give birth? _He said. _Of all the Heteronormative-gender-roles-centric, prejudicial, egotistical things to say._

"But…your mom is a guy?" Percy repeated blankly.

"Who is your mom?" I asked. I certainly didn't know this myth; I would have remembered something like this.

_My mother is Lopti,_ Sleipnir said. _Loki the Trickster. He is devious and cunning. A worthy adversary for you mortals. He once assumed the form of a mare, and mated with a stallion. I was the result. So you see, Loki truly is my mother. And my half-brother is on your trail once more, so I suggest you move._

We thanked Sleipnir again and returned to Annika and Annabeth and informed them of everything Sleipnir had told us. Sleipnir whinnied something as we turned to leave.

_Oh yeah,_ the horse called. _One more thing, don't cross the Troll Bridge at night_

With that, the horse simply vanished, leaving the four of us standing by ourselves in the glade.

"Is Loki Big Bad's mother too?" Percy wondered as we started heading southwest.

"No," Annika said. "Loki is the _father_ of Big Bad Wolf, Jormungand, and Hel. Their mother was one of the Frost Giants."

"We haven't met Hel," I said. "But she's supposed to be the least pleasant of the three."

"Oh goody," Percy said dryly. "Who are the Frost Giants?"  
"They're supposed to be the mortal enemies of the Aesir," Annika continued. "They were a very nasty lot. Dumber than a bag full of rocks, but still very offensive. The gods never wanted the giants to interfere in the lives of mortals, so the gods built a massive fence around Midgard. The giants couldn't cross, and were very unhappy about this. It's said that they'll finally get past the fence at Ragnarok."

"What's Midgard?" Percy asked.

"Earth," Annika replied. "There were supposedly nine worlds, and each was a branch on a massive tree called Yggdrasil. Midgard was earth. Asgard was the home of the Aesir. There was also Nifleheim, Hel's frozen domain where the souls of the dead who didn't manage to croak in battle went. Then there was Jotenheim where the Giants lived. I don't know the other five worlds…but I do remember that there was a cosmic Squirrel that hopped from branch to branch."

"Random," Annabeth commented.

"How can earth be part of some giant tree?" Percy asked.

"The same way Apollo can drive his sun chariot across the sky each day Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said. "It's about the symbolic importance."

Percy had no response to that, so we fell into a silent step until we reached the railroad.

"Wish we had a hand cart or something," Annabeth said as we started walking along the tracks.

I considered using a hieroglyphic spell to summon a train or handcart, but decided to save my energy. I was glad I did, because I almost burned myself out with my next spell.

We had been walking along the tracks maybe ten minutes when we heard that all-too-familiar-by-now howl.

"_Isfet,_" I cursed.

Percy and Annika drew their swords, and I summoned my staff and wand from the Duat.

"We can't fight him," Annika said. "He's practically a god."

"I've fought gods and Titans," Percy replied.

"We can fight him, Annika," I said. "We just can't beat him."

"Well that's comforting," Annika snipped sarcastically.

"Frankly," Percy said. "I'm sick of running away. This ends now."

Annabeth nodded in assent. I sighed and reached into my bin in the Duat for some of my shabti warriors.

My other best friend, Malik, is a master shabti maker. His shabti will never make good stunt doubles, he can't create a perfect replica of a person, but his talents lie elsewhere. He can make _loyal_ shabti. Any shabti-maker will tell you how hard it is to create a shabti that is truly loyal to its maker, and Malik can make them not only loyal to him, but anyone he wants them to be loyal to.

For my 21st birthday he gave me 100 Shabtis that looked like the Anubis-Warriors from the Mummy Returns. He knew that I liked that movie, and it was a very impressive present. The warriors were loyal to me, but I couldn't control all 100 at once. I could handle maybe…seven warriors at a time. So I grabbed seven Shabtis, and tossed them onto the tracks in front of me. They expanded to seven-foot tall jackal-headed monsters and took battle stances.

"I've been meaning to ask," Annika said. "How do you keep pulling stuff out of nowhere like that?"

"I'm actually pulling things out of the Duat," I explained. "The magical layer…that…"

An idea had just occurred to me. It would be tricky, and drain me of a lot of energy and strength…but if it succeeded Fenrir would not be a problem anymore.

"I've got an idea," I said. "But it's going to be very draining. Percy, I need you to distract Fenrir while I gather the strength to pull it off."

He nodded, his lips pursed. A true warrior, he was going to trust that I was going to come through for him. I prayed that I could.

"You," I said to the Jackal Shabtis. "You back Percy up and protect him. Give us time to pull this off. And don't let our enemy kill him."

The lead shabti nodded obediently and then turned intently towards the tracks. I plunged my staff into the gravel and began drawing energy from the staff into myself. I began pulling energy from the Duat and the Earth as well. I began quietly chanting "Ma'at" over and over again.

"What are you doing?" Annabeth asked.

"An idea that was given to me by Carter Kane," I replied. "If it works, Big Bad Wolf won't be a problem anymore. But he had a god helping him when he did it. I'm just me. So…hope I don't spontaneously combust."

"Anything we can do to help?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah," I said. "Don't let Big Bad kill me before I pull it off.

It was exactly then that Fenrir came barreling down the tracks like a freight train. Growling and frothing at the mouth. He looked like he'd been in a fight with a jackhammer. He was bloody, his fur was matted, and one of his eyes was so crusted over with black-tar-like-blood that it was sealed shut. Thor's handiwork, obviously the god had done a number on him.

He looked pissed off.

_**You mortals have been a thorn in my side for too long now,**_ he snarled. _**No more mercy, now you DIE!**_

The Jackal warriors smiled. I'm sure that the Shabtis hadn't been sure who their enemy was, I had been rather vague. But Fenrir had just announced himself, so there was clearly no further doubt in their clay minds. They drew their _khopesh _blades and charged the wolf. Percy followed suit.

I closed my eyes and concentrated. I couldn't watch the battle, as much as I wanted to; I needed to make some changes in the Duat. I imagined my storage bin.

Storage bin is a bit of a poor description. My storage bin is actually modeled after the Ark of the Covenant. It was a golden box with hieroglyphics and Hebrew inscribed on the side, with a solid gold lid and two statues of Isis kneeling and facing one another. The wings on the Isis statues arms touched and formed a sort of seat.

That's what it normally looks like, but I was transforming and expanding it. I imagined it becoming large, big enough to hold Fenrir. I removed the Isis statues, and hinged the lid onto the box. It became white. I had transformed my bin into an enormous freezer. I opened the lid and chambered the freezer. Most of my stuff I moved to the smaller chamber, but I took the seawater I had collected in Long Island Sound and poured it into the larger chamber.

I then mentally placed the freezer in the ground in front of me, sticking out of the ground just in front of me, the lid still open.

I opened my eyes. Fenrir was fighting Percy, who moved at almost superhuman speeds, a blur who attacked and retreated before the wolf could snap him up. Two of my Shabtis remained, the others lay in pieces scattered around the tracks.

"Hey ugly!" I called out. "Loki is a giant gay pansy. He sleeps with horses! Guy-horses!"

Fenrir turned and looked at me, his eyes blood red and filled with hate. Clearly he didn't like me talking about dear old dad like that. He didn't speak; he just charged me, pure animal and pure hate.

I smirked. Fenrir saw the smirk and realized it was a trap a split second too late. He stepped into my giant freezer and fell into the Duat. He tumbled into the chamber with the seawater, and I mentally slammed the lid shut and padlocked the freezer.

I collapsed onto the tracks, still conscious, but severely drained. I would be using no magic for several hours.

Percy, Annabeth, Annika, and my last two Jackal Shabtis approached me. I was a little concerned that the Shabtis would try and take advantage of my weakened state and kill me. An ordinary shabti maybe, but Malik's just shrank back to three inches tall.

I took several deep breaths, trying to regain some strength.

"How…what…where's Big Bad Wolf?" Annika sputtered.

"I locked him in the Duat," I said. "He's in…the same place that all of my stuff is. Where I keep pulling things out of nowhere…I put him in it."

"Xander that's amazing," Annabeth said looking at me in shock.

"You're telling me," I said. "I expected it would burn me out. As it is, I am magic-less for at least twelve hours."

"We'll take care of you," Percy said. "That's twice now you've saved our lives."

I nodded weakly. "Not keeping track or anything," I said. "But you saved me from Jormungand in Long Island sound, and again when Fenrir attacked the Hunter's camp."

I struggled to my feet, Annika and Annabeth helping me up. Annika grabbed the two Shabtis and offered them to me. I smiled and gingerly placed the pair in my pocket. I was so weak; I couldn't even return the statues to my bin.

I limped forward to one of the _khopesh _blades that a shabti had dropped when Fenrir had destroyed him. An ordinary _khopesh _is bronze, iron, or gold (in ceremonial cases) but Malik had made his tempered steel. It was a little big for me, as it had been designed for a seven-foot tall jackal-man to use. But when I picked it up it shrank in my hand till it was just the right size and weight for me.

Malik had been clever when he made these, he must have thought I might need to claim one of the _khopesh_ blades.

"Can you use that?" Annabeth asked as I picked up the remains of a sheath and attached it to my belt.

"I'm no good at combat magic," I said. "But I have been training with a _khopesh_ since I was seven. I should be able to handle myself in a fight."

"Take it easy, Rambo," Annika said smiling. "You've done enough for now."

"Yeah," I said. "Well we're not in Asgard yet. And we still have to cross the toll bridge."

"Troll Bridge," Annabeth corrected again.

"Oh goody," I said dryly.

We turned and headed west along the tracks.


	7. We Pay the Troll

**Clash of the Titans**

**Chapter 7: We Pay the Troll**

We trudged along the tracks quietly. I wished to God that I had some food of some kind to replenish my reserves. My stomach protested through half our trip. We had little conversation. I suppose that when warriors battle at each other's side, there is an unspoken bond. Either that or we are just really boring people.

Annika supported my weight on her shoulder most of the trip, until we got to the bridge. We came upon it as the sun began to dip below the horizon. First the tracks bent around a tree, and then we saw it. It was just a massive trestle bridge that extended across an immense gorge. The four of us glanced over the edge to see a river flowing beneath us.

"Looks like the bridge is the only way across," Percy said. "We should be okay as long as no trains come along as we cross it."

"Why would you say that?" I joked weakly. "Now you've jinxed it."

"Asgard can't be much further," Annabeth said. "Let's just cross it."

We all nodded in agreement, but took a little longer to pluck up the courage to actually cross the bridge. We were about halfway across when we heard maniacal laughing. I braced myself on my staff, and Annika supported me again.

"Who dares cross the bridge of King Geirrodur?" a gravely voice called. That's when four of the ugliest squat little beasts crawled out of the trestles in front of us. They we rock-grey, each standing about four feet tall, except one, who was seven feet tall.

They each had a large bulbous nose that looked like those proboscis monkeys. Except the big one, who had a large flat human like nose. They all had pointy teeth, and it looked like they had sharpened them. They wore clothes that looked like they had been fashioned out of trash.

"Oh ha ha," Percy said. "Trolls under a bridge."

"Oh!" I said, it finally registering. "Troll bridge! Now I get it."

I had to admit, I felt pretty stupid. I'm sure you got it right away. But I really hadn't understood what Thalia and Annabeth had meant when they had said 'troll bridge'.

"Stand aside trolls," Annika said authoritatively. "We come bearing the blessings of Thor, bound for Asgard."

"Thor!" the big troll snarled. "I HATE that guy! Just look what he did to my nose."

We all stared at his face, and he grew even angrier when he realized that we had no idea what he was talking about.

"You know," he said. "Thor was the first to slay me. Cut me in half with a burning hot iron bar. It took me forever to reform, stupid god. Never could reform my nose properly."

"Er…sorry?" Percy said sounding as confused as I felt.

"None shall pass without giving me tribute," Geirrodur snarled. "Gold…or goat meat. I love goat meat."

He glanced at me disdainfully.

"Or we can take the sickly one," he commented. "He'd be as good as a goat I suppose."

I felt Annika bristle against me. She drew her sword.

"Try it dragon breath. I'll cut you in half again."

The trolls hissed and backed up when they saw her sword.

"_H__runting_," one of them hissed. "King Geirrodur, she must be the one that Grendeldam wants."

"I guessed that moron," the troll king snapped back. "But they are on my bridge. I don't care if Grendeldam offers Mjolnir itself, they are on my bridge so they must pay me a tribute. Goat meat, Gold, or the sickly one."

"We have gold," Percy said glancing pointedly at Annabeth.

"We do?" she said.

"Really?" Geirrodur said. "Most mortal champions don't carry actual gold anymore. They carry those…what are they called again?"

"Dollars," one of his lackeys supplied.

"Yeah, those dough-Lars," He said. Percy fished through his pockets and pulled out two Oreo sized gold coins. Olympian drachmas. Annabeth realized what Percy had meant and pulled another one out and handed a coin to her boyfriend. Who dropped all three coins into Geirrodur's waiting hand.

He grinned greedily at the gold. Then frowned and counted out the three coins and then the four of us with his fingers.

"Don't you need four coins?" he said frowning.

"Uh…," Percy said worriedly glancing at me. I knew that he only had the three coins and I was the one already on the chopping block.

"No," Annabeth supplied. "Because three is more than four. You owe us change."

"Oh of course," Geirrodur said looking relieved. Clearly math was not his best subject. He started rifling through a pouch hanging off his belt.

"You can keep the change," Annabeth said. "As it is such an honor to be in the presence of the King of the Trolls."

"It is isn't it?" Geirrodur beamed.

"So we'll just be on our way," I said.

"No," Geirrodur said. "You paid the tribute, but Grendeldam is offering a mountain dragon's spoils in exchange for the head of the one who carries the sword _Hrunting_ on a pike, so you see the girl must die."

I swore in Egyptian at the same time Annabeth swore in Greek and that Percy and Annika swore in English.

I reached for my _khopesh_, which I had 'sheathed' by sticking the sword between my belt and my shorts. Turns out I needn't have bothered. It was exactly then that we heard the sound of the train whistle. The Trolls scattered, and the four of us turned to see a diesel engine coming around the tracks and onto the bridge.

I turned to Percy. "See! You jinxed it!"

"Run!" Annabeth said sensibly. Easier said than done on a trestle bridge in crocs when you've been drained of energy. We began to run towards the western side of the river but it became clear fast that we weren't going to outrun a train.

Suddenly, Percy grabbed Annabeth and flung her over his shoulder, then he grabbed Annika and flung her over his other shoulder, then he grabbed me…I wasn't sure what happened next, Percy moved like a blur. The next thing I knew I was lying in the grass beside the tracks watching the boxcars go by.

"Nice," I said.

"That's what I get for bathing in the Styx," Percy said panting. The effort had clearly worn on him.

"Remind me to bathe in the Styx sometime," I said.

"I wouldn't recommend it," Percy said. I could see from his face that he was serious.

"Feel up to another exertion?" I said.

"Why?"

"Because we have a train to catch."

XXX

"You know Percy," I said. "I think I've seen you somewhere before."

The four of us were riding in a boxcar full of maple syrup towards Asgard. I thought it was weird that we were traveling with something so stereotypically Canadian, but I decided not to question it…particularly since the syrup was Hodr Brand Maple Syrup. A mistletoe leaf decorated the bottles instead of a Maple.

Annika had fallen asleep, and Annabeth was starting to nod off herself, she rested her head on Percy's shoulder.

"I was part of a nationwide manhunt when I was twelve," he said glumly. "Maybe that was it."

"Yeah," I brightened. "My mother lives in St. Louis. We were visiting the arch when you burned a hole in the floor."

"Hey," Percy said defensively. "It wasn't me, it was that insane Chihuahua."

"What?" I said.

"Chimera," Annabeth corrected softly and sleepily.

"I fixed that by the way," I said. "No one even realized there was a hole the next day. Everyone was wondering where it had gone and what happened to it."

"Thanks I guess," he said.

I yawned. I realized vaguely I hadn't slept since before I left Madagascar. I had been up for at least 20 hours. I closed my eyes and nodded off.

XXX

I wish I'd had a headrest with me, because my _Ba_ decided to travel this night. Normally it doesn't travel far. In fact, my _Ba_ seldom travels at all. So when it does, I know that there's something important going on that I need to know about.

I was in New York, floating up to Mount Olympus. Nico was standing before some of the Olympian gods. I wasn't sure who at first, but I recognized Poseidon, he was wearing swim trunks and a Hawaiian shirt now, instead of PJs.

There was a gray-bearded man in a pinstriped Armani suit. His beard looked like storm clouds, lightning even flashed occasionally. He had Thalia's sky blue eyes. This must be Zeus.

Beside Zeus was Athena. She was easily recognizable, as she wore ancient Greek battle armor. Her grey eyes reminded me of Annabeth. There was also a young girl, maybe twelve or thirteen, she wore the same silver dress that Thalia, Amaya, Finn, and Shane had. Artemis.

These four gods were twenty feet tall, but there was a fifth. He was human sized, or at least appeared that way at the moment. He had pale skin and oily black hair. He wore black robes. He stood behind Nico and had his hand on his shoulder.

He glanced at me and smirked. Normally, Olympian gods can't see a _Ba_ when we travel into their territories. But I've heard it said that there's one who can: Hades, Lord of the Dead, Ruler of the Greco-Roman Underworld.

"Do you know who Loki is?" Nico was saying as his voice came into focus.

"Some minor barbarian god," Zeus said dismissively waving his hand. "I think the barbarian ruler locked him up or something."

"He's a trickster," Nico said. "And he's trying to start the Norse Apocalypse."

"The affairs of the barbarian gods do not concern me," Zeus said.

"They should concern us brother," Poseidon said. "If they attempt to usurp our territories. I told you that I found that snake in Long Island Sound. Close to our children's camp."

"And those horse-beasts are everywhere in the Midwest," Artemis said angrily. "They've killed three deer hunters already. And two of the hunters were a father who had taken his daughter hunting for the first time. A double attack on those who I protect. There would have been more fatalities I'm certain, were not my Hunters vigilant warriors."

Zeus's face softened slightly at Artemis's plight. I got the feeling he liked to dote on her.

"I have no desire for a Norse Apocalypse," Hades said coldly. "Or an apocalypse of any kind. My kingdom is filled to the brim as it is, an apocalypse would only add to the traffic jams."

"And we don't know how Ragnarok would affect western civilization," Athena said. "It may have no effect, or perhaps a devastating effect on all we have built."

"Surely you don't think that these barbarian gods have as much influence over civilization as we do?" Zeus retorted.

"Do you want to take the chance?" Athena said.

Zeus looked convinced…for a moment, and then shook his head.

"No," he growled angrily. "We will not interfere in a barbarian god civil war. Let them destroy themselves. Stay out of it."

There was a crack of thunder and a flash of lightning, and Zeus was gone.

The four remaining gods looked very irritated.

"Perhaps we should defy him and send aid anyway," Poseidon suggested.

"No," Athena said. "That would just make him angry. We almost had him convinced with reason. I think we can change his mind, but we must be cautious."

"It is his stubbornness," Artemis said. "He despises Odin, because he feels he should have sole dominion over the sky."

Poseidon snorted. "I have never fought Njord over the sea. We have no issues with each other. We just let the other be."

"Let us try to be reasonable," Athena said. "For now, when reason has the best chance of success."

XXX

I awakened to the sound of Annabeth talking.

"…And it was built by an American architect, Bruce Price, another child of Athena in fact. Anyway, he designed in the style of a Scottish mansion."

"Makes sense," Annika said. "Asgard was in Scotland for a while."

I yawned and got up. The trio were had opened the doors of the boxcar and were looking over at the sight of the Fairmont Banff Lodge. It really was gorgeous. Like a rustic hunting lodge…but much, much larger. It stood almost literally in the middle of nowhere, cliffs and mountains on one side, forest on the other.

"It actually burned down," Annabeth said. "They recently rebuilt it."

"Really?" I said.

"Oh yeah," Percy said. "Believe me, Annabeth is an expert on all things architectural."

She blushed.

"Cool," I said.

"Train's slowing down," Percy noted.

"Then this is where we get off," Annika said. "Before the train pulls into the station and they catch us here."

We all nodded in quiet agreement. I grabbed my staff and wand, and stuck my wand into my belt by my _khopesh_. I still didn't have the strength to do any magic, but I felt more comfortable with my staff and wand handy.

We leapt off and tumbled into the grass. I looked up, and in the daylight I could see the logos on the boxcars. _Valkeryies Express._ A chill went up my spine. The logo was of an armored woman riding a winged horse.

"You don't think that this train is…of a supernatural origin?" I wondered.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Percy muttered.

We trudged through the forest toward the lodge. As we approached the main entrance a bellhop greeted us by tipping his hat. He had a thick curly beard, a lot like Thor's, but it was black, not red. Another chill ran up my spine as I read his gold nametag.

**Hermiod**

"I think we're in the right place," I whispered as we entered the lobby.

"Well it's about time," Thalia said.

"Yeah," Ziva said grinning. "What took you guys so long?"


	8. A Pancake Breakfast for the Dead

**Clash of the Titans**

**Chapter 8: A Pancake Breakfast for the Dead**

Ziva ran out through the double doors and gave me a hug. Then she and Annika exchanged a look that I didn't understand. I shrugged it off.

"Welcome mortals," Thor said coming up to us. He was normal sized now, but still wearing the silver helmet and lumberjack outfit.

"Lord Thor," Annika gasped and bowed her head. Thor actually started laughing.

"No one's called me that in some time," he chuckled. "No one has worshiped me in some time. No need to start now."

She smiled weakly.

"Sorry about dropping you so far from Asgard," Thor said. "Normally you'd have been dropped right at the Troll bridge, but Fenrir tried to enter the Bifrost Bridge. I had to cut the portal off."

"That's okay," Percy said. "Sleipnir gave us directions."

Thor gave him a funny look but continued, "Then I sent the Valkeryies to retrieve you. They made sure you got here safe."

"What? When?" Percy asked.

"The train Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said. "The Valkeryies were the train."

Thor nodded. "Come then," He said. "The All-Father wishes to see you. Come."

"How have you and the Hunters made out?" I asked Ziva as Thor led us through the massive double-doors.

"We get along splendidly," Ziva said. "If it weren't for that oath against working with gods I might be tempted to join them."

Panic leapt into my heart. I looked at her hoping for a sign that she was joking. She ignored me and continued talking.

"Thor got us rooms in the mortal part of the Hotel," she said. "It's…amazing."

"My gods this is beautiful," Annabeth said looking around the room. The place really was magnificent. Fancy, but cozy, rustic, but luxurious. I could see why the wilder Norse gods would love it here. All the comforts, without getting away from the wildness that made them considered barbarians by the Olympians.

The hotel is almost indescribable, and the landscape…Really is.

There was a roaring fire in a massive fireplace at one end of the room. Thor smiled and led us to a series of couches that ringed the fire place. We sat down, just looking around in wonder. The Banff Springs hotel had been built by mortals, but you could easily see why it was fit for gods.

An elevator pinged in the hallway, and a god stepped out. He was seven feet tall, and wore a dark blue suit, dotted with stars. It reminded me of Annika's jacket, but I had a feeling this suit was lined with real stars, not rhinestones. He had on a bright red tie, with two gold raven shaped pins in the tie. In odd contrast, he wore a pair of slippers shaped like stuffed wolves.

He had six foot tall staff, adorned with carvings of animals and gods. He had a thick stormy beard, very similar to Zeus's beard. His eye was icy blue, chilling and cold as it inspected us. He had only one eye, his right eye. The left one was covered in a black patch. No one cracked any pirate jokes. This man was a serious as a blizzard. I realized I had seen him before; in the Mythomagic deck my cousin had made. This was Odin, King of the Norse gods; Ruler of Asgard.

"Odin," Annika breathed. Odin's eye flashed to her, and his face registered a look of surprise, but only for a moment.

"Bulwyf-spawn," he said.

"Odin-One-Eye," Thor said standing. We all followed suit. "All-Father, Wise-One."

Odin nodded and Thor gestured us to follow. We got up and quietly followed him to the elevator. There was another bellhop manning the elevator. He had a thick golden beard and eyes that sparked like the rainbow. I guessed who he was before I read his tag.

**Heimdall**

"So you're Heimdall," I said.

"So you're the mortals who keep stealing my Bridges," he responded. "Do you know how hard it is to establish yourself as a reputable god of travelers, and gatekeeper to the gods when lousy mortals keep KIDNAPPING PAYING CUSTOMERS? Do you?"

He turned to Annika and Thor.

"I hope these foolish mortals haven't offended you, or upset you in anyway," he said. "Your travel expenses will, of course be refunded, and I apologize again for the inconvenience."

We crowded into the elevator. He took us to the third floor, where Shane, Finn, and Amaya were waiting. They packed into the elevator, so there were nine humans, and three gods all crammed into an elevator. Strangely, there was plenty of room. I felt like the elevator was small, but I also felt like we could do jumping jacks and not touch each other if we wanted to.

Heimdall waved his hand over the button panel. The walls of the elevator shimmered with rainbow light. Nine new buttons replaced the old ones, these buttons were brightly colored, and had words instead of numbers attached.

**Muspellheimr**

**Alfheimr**

**Vaneheimr**

**Asgard**

**Midgard.**

**Jotenheim **

**Svartalfheimr**

**Dvarfheimr**

**Nifleheim **

The Midgard button was lit up to show where we were. Heimdall pressed the Asgard button. The old buttons vanished, and a series of new buttons replaced them.

**Valhalla**

**Thrudheim**

**Breidablick**

**Balisknor**

Heimdall pressed the button marked Valhalla. The elevator pinged and shuddered, and I felt the usual sensation of going up.

"Hope no one steals this Bridge," Heimdall muttered. "Unlikely, seeing as I'm carrying the thieves this time."

The doors pinged open.

We might never have even left the Banff Springs lodge. The doors had opened into a massive, brightly lit, elaborate dining hall. But huge, bigger than the whole hotel beneath us, and that's saying something. The occupancy of this dining hall was clearly meant for a stadium full of people.

Odin stepped out of the elevator; his gold raven pins suddenly turned into real ravens and flew away. His fuzzy wolf slippers transformed into real wolves and bounded up to a throne at the far end of the Hall.

His suit transformed into a glittering cloak made of stars. I noticed similar changes come over Thor and Heimdall's garb as they stepped out. Each was now wearing a more traditional Viking outfit.

We followed. The Elevator doors were near bright windows, and you could see for miles. We appeared to be a few miles in the air, floating above the Banff Springs Lodge. We looked down and could see the lodge bellow us. We could see the mountains, the railroad tracks and forest. I saw Geirrodur's Troll Bridge, and in the distance, I swear I could see a massive electrified fence; it looked just like the fence from _Jurassic Park_. I saw vague grey shapes moving along the fence.

That's when the ghosts started wandering in. They were coming from another direction, down a hallway to our left. I saw rows and rows of hotel room doors opening. They came pouring out. Their faces were clearly visible, but their skin was transparent, you could see through them, their skeletons seemed more solid. See-through flesh over a solid skeleton. They each wore uniforms or battle armor, each from different time periods.

There were soldiers from every era. Vikings wandered out first, at least a thousand. They took up seats near Odin's throne. The wolves watched with interest. I notice the ravens were now perched on the throne, but Odin still stood with us. Thor and Heimdall seemed to have vanished.

Then came knights, crusaders, and warriors wearing Middle Eastern garb. Then about two dozen Conquistadores filed out, with scantily dressed Aztec warriors on their tail. Half-dozen men dressed as pirates, dirty and scraggily dressed. Then Revolutionary War soldiers, both Americans, and British Red-Coats. This was followed by Hessian soldiers, and Napoleon's troops. Other armies too, but I didn't recognize them.

The next group was the second largest, the American Civil war. Tons of Confederate and Union solders came out and took seats, next to each other, mixed together. Most of the ghosts seemed to like hanging with the other side of their particular wars. It was a little odd seeing Aztecs and Conquistadores chilling, and Redcoats side by side with Colonial Americans.

After the Civil War Soldiers seated themselves, the stragglers wandered in. This was a smaller group. World War One soldiers, both allied and Germans. Then the World War Two soldiers, and the biggest shock, six Nazis wandered in. I was struck with utter revulsion by the inclusion of these six.

"Not all of the Nazi soldiers were horrendous monsters," Odin said, as though sensing my distain. It was the first time we had really heard him speak. "Some were mere soldiers, following orders, making the best they could. Many were ignorant of the atrocities of their fellows, committed in the name of the Fuehrer. Ironically, he tried to worship us. His crimes would never have allowed him to come here, but these six died noble deaths, believing in their hearts that they fought for their country's glory. Those who die in this manner are mine to claim. And the Valkeryies swiftly ride the wind to bring them to me."

Then the modern soldiers came in. Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and soldiers who had died recently in Iraq and Afghanistan. I even recognized a couple of faces from the news.

"No Islamic terrorists, I see," Annabeth commented.

An American soldier shot her a dirty look.

"An act of mass murder will not earn you Valhalla," Odin said. "Only an honorable, noble death will bring you here. I know not where the monsters that attacked your World Trade Centers are, but be they in Nifleheim, Hell, Tartarus, Netu or wherever; may they rot there for all eternity."

"Amen," I said.

"Eat," Odin said. "Feast, Drink, prepare for battle. Ragnarok will come swift and soon, we must be prepared."

Food magically appeared on the ghosts plates. Pancakes with pats of butter, eggs over easy, bacon, sausage, and glasses filled with milk and orange juice. The warriors eagerly dug into their meals, passing around the Hodr Brand Maple syrup and slathering it all over their food.

None of them appeared to have any table manners, even the modern ones…the modern soldiers used their knives and forks, but that was about it. Each table had a massive drinking horn that was filled with a golden colored liquid. Celestial Mead. The warriors all took drinks from the mead and passed it on to the next guy. Their forms seemed to become more realized, less 'ghostly' as they drank.

Odin led us to an empty table with eight seats right by his throne. My stomach rumbled as I saw the pancake breakfast appear.

"Warriors of Valhalla," Odin said. "We welcome our guests to the halls of Asgard. We welcome once again, the Shield Maidens of Diana."

The Hunters gave a slight bow to the crowd. I noticed that about 1/10th of the warriors were female. Considering the archaic ancient rules of this civilization, that was a good turnout.

"We also welcome Annika Geatson," Odin continued. "Spawn of Bulwyf."

The Vikings started cheering, chanting, and slamming their fists on the table.

"Beowulf, Beowulf, Beowulf," the chanted over and over again. Then a single clean-shaven Viking with long golden hair stood up and took a bow. He nodded to Annika; I could see pride in his face. My heart skipped a beat as I realized that this must be Beowulf himself.

"Perseus Jackson, and Annabeth Chase," Odin continued when the cheering died down. "Children of the Roman gods."

A slight murmur went through the crowd of ghosts. It was a murmur of awe. They'd heard of Percy.

"Your real name is Perseus?" I said. Percy scowled at me.

"You fought the Titan Kronos!" Beowulf said. "You're as noble a hero as can be found among the Olympian children. It is an honor for you to feast with us in Valhalla."

Percy was blushing. I saw Annabeth smile and take his hand.

"Alexander Sands and Ziva Fazahl," Odin said finally. "Mages of the Southern Court."

The ghosts didn't really have a reaction to us, so they went back to eating their pancakes. Ziva, Annika, Percy, Annabeth, and I sat down.

"Come now," Odin said. "Eat."

The Hunters dug right in, but Percy looked at the food hesitantly.

"I know that in your land of the fallen," Odin said. "That it is dangerous to consume the food of the dead, but here this food restores your life force. It is fit for both the living and the dead. Gods and mortals alike may sample its splendors."

That was good enough for me. My stomach was rumbling like mad, and I still had no magic after banishing Fenrir. The pancakes were some of the best cakes I'd ever had, and I could feel my strength slowly returning. The Hunters were taking sips of the Celestial Mead and passing it on. They handed it to Annika, who politely took a sip, and then handed it to me.

Normally the House of Life discourages drinking. It's true that the Ancient Egyptians invented beer and wine, but well, if you've ever seen a drunken person, imagine how dangerous it would be if that drunk had magical powers. So you can see why the House might not look kindly on alcohol.

Still, I politely took a sip and handed the horn to Ziva. The mead tasted more like honey than alcohol, and it was very smooth going down. I felt warmth in my stomach, which spread slowly throughout my body and suddenly I realized that I had regained full control of my magic again. The mead had restored my full magical power and replenished my reserves. Just to be certain I reached into my pocket, grabbed my Shabtis, and tossed them into the Duat. My _khopesh _followed a minute later.

"So," Odin said as we finished eating. The ghosts began to file out of the hall, and their plates disappeared off their tables. "Tell me your story."

So we did, we told him everything that had happened to us since I left Madagascar. He listened intently, and asked no questions.

"So," he said when we had finished. "Loki is free. Ragnarok is upon us."

"With all due respect," Annabeth said. "I don't think it is. Xander banished Fenrir to the Egyptian netherworld. I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen in Ragnarok."

"No," Odin said warily. "It does not. Fenrir devours me. That is his role. Tell me mage; will your prison hold him?"

"I honestly don't know," I said shrugging. "Egyptian demons will eventually break free if banished to the Duat. It may take centuries, but they will. I must assume that Fenrir will eventually get loose, but for now he's fairly secure."

Odin reached up and stroked his beard.

"Even so," he said at last. "Jormungand, Loki, Hel, and the Frost Giants are still able to fulfill their roles. I must assume that Ragnarok will begin without Fenrir."

"Why?" Annabeth asked.

"My dear," Odin said. "Ragnarok has been looming for two thousand years. It can't be stopped."

"What about delayed?" I asked. "I mean, Fenrir's absence is a pretty big deal."

"Perhaps," Odin said. "Or perhaps not. It is difficult to say at this point."

"I'm fairly disappointed," Annabeth said angrily. "You're not the Odin I've been reading about. He was supposed to be wise. He was supposed to stop at nothing to prevent Ragnarok."

"And I shall," Odin said. "For that is my role. Just as it is Loki's role to instigate Ragnarok. Do you think the trickster desires the end of days? We are both subjects to our roles. Look at your parents. They wasted sixty years trying to prevent a prophecy from coming to pass. But they couldn't escape their roles. Zeus and Poseidon sire heroes, it is their roles. They couldn't help but sire Thalia and Percy."

Thalia and Percy both shifted uncomfortably.

"It is the human equation," I said suddenly. "Gods can't help being what they are they're locked in their roles. They're trapped in the respective prisons. It's why the Egyptian gods prefer to take human hosts. Humans think creatively. Figure out solutions, break the rules and defy conventions. That's why the Greek gods sire human heroes too, isn't it?"

Annabeth nodded at me in confirmation. I never had understood the Greco-Roman gods desire to mate with mortals until just now.

"Humans think outside the box," Annabeth confirmed. "They change the course of history."

"You Aesir could take a page out of the Olympian handbook," I said. "Start changing your own destiny, by using humans."

"Xander!" Ziva said scowling. "Are you encouraging a god to meddle with human lives?"

"I guess I am," I said shrugging. She shot me the dirtiest look I had ever seen her do. She practically flipped me off with her mind.

"Well said," Odin mused. "Perhaps there is wisdom in your words."

"Oh bravo," A new voice called from the other end of the hall. "Bravissiomo, well spoken mortals."

A man in his mid-twenties approached us. He was very stylish, very chic. He wore a leather jacket, with a yellow scarf around his neck. He wore black chinos and a silver belt. His hair was blond and gelled up, so that his hair stuck up in spikes. There were orange highlights at the base of the hair, so that the spikes resembled flames. His eyes were black as coal, with miniature fires burning in the center. These eerie eyes scanned the group of us as he looked around the now empty room. The ghosts were gone, and I felt slightly abandoned as I retrieved my _khopesh_ from the Duat.

A storm began to form outside as Odin stood to greet this newcomer. I noticed Annika trembling with a combination of barely contained rage and fear.

In a flash I knew who this man was.

"Lopti," Odin snarled.

It was Loki the Trickster, and we weren't ready.


	9. Ragnarok and Roll

**Clash of the Titans**

**Chapter 9: Ragnarok and Roll**

Percy uncapped his celestial bronze pen-sword, Annika drew her steel blade, and Ziva pulled her wand and staff from the Duat. A soft purplish glow began to surround her as she readied her combat avatar.

For the first time since this whole mess started, I felt I could summon mine as well. I barely even thought about it, and the soft blue glow of my own avatar began to appear. I liked this Celestial Mead stuff. I wondered if I might take some home with me. It didn't give me new knowledge or magic, but it greased the axels on what I already knew. I had made a combat avatar once before, and the mead helped me tap into the powers and emotions I had felt at the time.

"Peace," Odin said. He waved his hand. Instantly Ziva's and my combat avatars vanished and Percy's sword shrank back into a pen. "This is my hall. You shall not fight the Tricky One, not here, not now. Nor will he fight you."

"Quite true," Loki smirked. He smiled wickedly at Annika. "I am not here to fight."

"Why are you here then?" Shane, the hostile Hunter said scowling at the god.

"I originally came here to fulfill my role in Ragnarok," Loki said sounding perturbed. "I am supposed to be here to taunt the Aesir, particularly my dear friend Thor. But something has changed."

He turned towards us.

"What have you done with my son?" he demanded. I saw Odin crack a smile.

"I have minions in all the nine worlds," he continued. "But none of them can find him."

"Maybe we killed him," Percy suggested innocently.

"Nonsense," Loki sneered. "Then he would go to Nifleheim and Hel would simply release him. No, you did something to him. Imprisoned him somehow. I want answers!"

"Why do you care so much?" Annabeth asked. "You don't strike me as the fatherly type."

"You don't know me," Loki said coldly. "Bastard child of the Roman gods. I have no qualm with you. I demand the return of my son."

Percy's pen transformed into a sword again and he lunged at Loki. Loki jerked back in surprise. He then transformed into a snowy owl and easily dodged Percy's attack by fluttering into the air. He landed at Odin's feet and transformed back into a man.

"Do not insult my guests, Lopti," Odin said coolly. "Or I will release them to attack you as I did Neptune's son. He is a powerful and noble hero. As is Annabeth. She does Minerva justice."

"You always did have a soft spot for heroes didn't you Odin?" Loki sneered. "Siegfried, Beowulf, Eric the Red, Leaf Erickson."

"Indeed I do favor heroes," Odin said. "It is the heroes control destiny, not the gods."

"Give me Fenris," Loki said angrily.

"Why?" I inquired. "So you can trigger Ragnarok? I don't think so Loki, god of Chaos and Deceit. The wolf stays where he is."

"I'm also god of Fire and the Forge," Loki said. "Somehow they always forget that one. You have me at a disadvantage mortal. You know who I am…I have no clue who you are."

I smiled wickedly. I know it's probably not a good idea to provoke a god, (the one thing all myths from all over the world agree on) but Loki had it coming.

"I'm the one holding your son prisoner," I said.

"Then you die!" Loki said, a fireball appearing in his palm. He raised the flame orb and looked like he was going to chuck it at me. Odin waved his hand and a blast of cold wind snuffed out the fireball like it wasn't even there.

"Not wise," I said shaking my head. "If you kill me, then Fenrir remains imprisoned in the Duat forever."

Ziva shot me a look. This was a lie you see. If I died then everything in my storage bin would immediately transported to a preset area for pickup by my friends and family. In this case they would have been placed in Ziva's care at her headquarters in Heidelberg.

That meant that Fenrir would be loose. But Loki didn't need to know that.

He scowled at me angrily. The burning coals that were his eyes looked like they were about to incinerate me. In fact, it did feel much warmer in here.

Loki looked me over several times.

"You're not a half-god, like the bastard Roman children," he said finally. "Nor are you of the blood of heroes like the girl who freed me. You don't seem capable of imprisoning my son…and yet, there is power in you. Ancient, dangerous power."

"I shall continue to set the stage for Ragnarok," Loki said turning towards the elevator. "If my son is not released in twenty-four hours, I shall release the Jotun into Midgard. Then I guess we shall see if we can start Ragnarok without him."

The elevator doors pinged open and Heimdall stood there. Not in his bellhop outfit, but in the full Viking armor. A rainbow was inscribed on his shield. He grinned wickedly at Loki.

"Let's you and me start Ragnarok early eh?" Heimdall said brandishing a sword. Loki looked nervous for the first time since we'd met him. He was sweating.

"I'll take the next one," Loki said reaching in and pressing the door close button. The elevator doors closed, and Loki looked relieved. He then burst into flames and vanished.

"We can't allow him to let the giants into earth," Annabeth said exasperatedly.

"I agree," Odin standing up.

He approached the elevator, and the doors opened once more. Heimdall stood there in his bellhop uniform this time. We crowded into the elevator. Heimdall punched the Midgard button and the doors closed. Elevator music began playing. Shakira. The Norse gods were fans of Shakira. Who knew?

When the doors opened again we weren't looking at the Banff Springs Lodge. We stood in front of a massive open field. There was a forest on the other side of the field. The field was maybe a mile and a half wide.

The group of us meandered out. Behind us I could see the rainbow shooting off into the sky. There was a massive cliff face behind the rainbow. Heimdall tipped his hat and the doors closed. The rainbow vanished a matter of seconds later.

"What a desolate wilderness," Percy commented. "Where are we?"

"Canada," Odin commented dryly. "We're North of the Banff Springs lodge, Near the Jotenheim border."

No sooner had he said this, then the air in front of the forest shimmered and a massive electrified fence appeared, immediately replacing the forest. It was identical to the fence that held the T-rex from Jurassic Park. But bigger, much, much bigger. The fence rose up as tall as the skyscrapers in Manhattan. The cables that made it up were as thick as subway cars. There was a low hum as electricity coursed through the massive cables.

"How does that tree thing work?" Percy asked suddenly.

Odin smiled. "Yggdrasil exists," he said. "But the World Tree is on a slightly different plane of existence then Midgard. The tree is sort of a medium, for the space in between the 9 worlds. In truth, the nine worlds exist in the same physical location, just on slightly differing planes of existence. Sort of like AM and FM radio. We stand in Midgard, the fence represents the border to Jotenheim, and so we can see it too, because it lies in between the two worlds."

"I saw this fence from Asgard," I commented.

"Yes," Odin acknowledged. "That is why the Aesir chose to occupy Asgard. It's the only world from which you may observe all nine."

"So we're here to…?" Shane asked.

"If Loki attempts to destroy the Midgard Fence," Odin said. "He must do it from here. It's the only place where the two worlds intersect. Like Asgard and the Banff Springs Lodge. Asgard isn't actually in the lodge, it's just where Asgard and Midgard intersect."

"Interesting," Annabeth said.

"I have other matters to attend to," Odin said. "I shall return shortly."

There was a blast of icy wind and Odin vanished, leaving the nine of us alone.

XXX

We set up camp at the base of the fence. The Hunters were experts at this, and soon had several benches set up in a circle around a large roaring fire. Thalia and Amaya had left to go hunting. Percy, Annabeth, Ziva, Annika, Shane, Finn, and I sat in a loose circle on the benches.

"So what's your story?" I asked Shane, the Hunter who had been acting so hostile towards me and Percy.

She glared at me.

I shrugged. "You don't have to tell me. I just think it's odd, all you girls joining this Artemis's Hunters. Do you hate guys that much?"

"Yes," She said emphatically.

There was a pause as Percy snapped a twig idly. I glanced at her. "Don't you think it's a little unfair of Artemis to forbid you guys to fall in love? "

"Don't talk about my Lady disrespectfully," Shane said through gritted teeth. "I'd do anything for her. She's my Lady. My mother."

"What about your real mom?" Ziva asked curiously.

"I hate her," Shane said coldly. "I'm guessing you'll want to know why?"

Neither of us said anything.

"My mom fell in love with this guy. Didn't matter that everyone saw he was no good, it was true love. We moved in with him. And when he started coming after me each and every night, she told me to shut my mouth. She loved him, wouldn't hear a word against him." Shane said nastily.

"So you see," Shane said icily. "My momma chose a guy over her daughter. And that's somethin' Lady Artemis would never do. I don't ever want a man to touch me again and Lady Artemis promised me she would never let it happen." Hero worship shone in her eyes.

"Well," Loki's voice called out interrupting our conversation. "I'm so surprised to see you here."

Loki was leaning against a tree right next to the fence. I noticed with relative alarm that there was a fuse box on the tree. His tone had been condescending and sarcastic.

In a flash we were all on our feet with our weapons drawn.

"Typical," Loki said rolling his eyes. "Odin left you here by yourselves didn't he? He always thinks that heroes need to 'prove themselves'. It's sickening really, do know how many die trying to do just that?"

"Perhaps Odin knew we could handle ourselves," Annabeth snipped.

"Odin's been overestimating Heroes for centuries," Loki chuckled. "This time it will cost him."

He snapped his fingers. Suddenly a gigantic beast lumbered out of the forest. At first I thought it was Bigfoot. It was ten feet tall, with ape-like feet. Its skin was pebbly though, not like a reptile's skin, but like if you melted one of those plastic green army men, then let them cool off. It was the same color too.

It had long white hair, and a snub pig like nose. It had large green-yellow eyes, and ivory curved tusks coming out of its mouth. It wore a gray loincloth with a belt of skulls. It also wore a T-shirt with the words** World's #1 Mom** written on it.

"Grendeldam," Annika said coolly.

"Scion of Beowulf," The creature replied. "Murderer of Children."

"Only man-eating monster children," Annika snapped back.

Grendeldam looked outraged, ready to charge Annika and kill her. Annika raised her sword, leveling it at the monster.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Loki said wagging his finger. "I'm afraid you have more important things to be dealing with, Beowulf-Scion."

There was a tremendous roar, and a jet-black dragon flew over the fence from Jotenheim. It had crimson stripes along its neck and wings. It roared again and landed nimbly behind Loki.

Annika wavered. "_Wolfslayer_? What the Hel is Wolfslayer doing here?"

"What…" Annabeth started to ask, but Annika cut her off, answering her question.

"The Dragon who ultimately killed Beowulf. He's the curse upon my family. Every Geatson, every child and grandchild of Beowulf who has killed Grendel will eventually be hunted down and killed by him. No one in my family besides Beowulf has ever succeeded at slaying him. But he's early…normally he doesn't come for us until much later. He can't kill me while Grendeldam lives…he can't."

"Exactly the conundrum that you now face," Loki said smirking. "As long as Grendeldam lives, Wolfslayer can't kill you, but should she die…you're toast kid."

"Why are you doing this?" Annabeth asked. "You used to be good…you used to be Thor's best friend. Why did you…change?"

Loki's face clouded over, as he did the sky became overcast.

"I could live with the punishment that they chose for me," Loki said. "After all, I did kill Baldur, but I was not the giantess Thökk who refused to weep for him, as some of the modern myths say. That's right, gods can use Wikipedia. No, my vengeance is for my children."

The flames of our campfire began to rise, growing larger with Loki's rage.

"My children Fenrir and Jormungand locked up and imprisoned because they _might_ be a threat to Asgard. And my sons…Narvi and Vali, Vali, forcibly transformed into a wolf by Odin, and Vali was forced to kill Narvi. Narvi's intestines were used to bind me to the rock. The very rock that Annika here freed me from. My children. My family. And the toll that this took on my wife Sigyn. Yet she still caught the poison from the fangs of Skathi's serpent."

"Sigyn wasn't in the cave when I freed you," Annika said, as though just realizing it. Although at this point, I was just plain confused. I realized now that I only had a peripheral knowledge of Norse Myths. I would definitely be bringing the subject up with my mother the next time I visited her…if I lived that long.

Loki's face contorted into something akin to both rage and sorrow.

"She is often forgotten, and ignored by history," he said. "You know what happens to forgotten gods."

"They fade," Percy murmured. He looked as though he had some experience with the subject.

"I never forgot her," Loki said. "She kept the poison out of my face for centuries. How could any man or god forget that?"

"So all this…Ragnarok," I Annabeth said. "It's…revenge. Odin said you were merely fulfilling your role."

"He would say that, wouldn't he?" Loki said. "To try and assuage his guilt. To have you believe that these events were predetermined. The truth is…he brought Ragnarok upon himself. I believe you Roman half-gods are familiar with what happens when you try and avoid prophecies? Odin, for all his wisdom, is no better than Zeus. Zeus nearly brought about the destruction of Olympus by trying to avoid a prophecy. Now Asgard faces the same fate."

I had to admit, Loki had a legitimate gripe. I was almost tempted to release Fenrir. If it weren't for the fact that Loki would still go ahead with the destruction of Western Civilization, I might have. Too much was at stake however.

"So," Loki said. "I believe we have chatted enough. I give you one last chance. Release Fenrir, or suffer the consequences."

"No," I said, but more hesitantly than before. "You'll just start Ragnarok."

"I'll start it either way," Loki said. He snapped his fingers, the Dragon took to the air, it roared and dove down, snatching Annika up and taking back to the sky with her. Shane and Finn began firing arrows at the monster, which bounced harmlessly off.

"Norse dragons are invulnerable," Loki said laughing at the Hunters. "Except for one spot, rather like your Achilles. Which reminds me…Grendeldam, go for the small of the boy's back, that's his Achilles spot."

Percy looked panicked and backed away as the ten-foot monster approached him. Annabeth turned, spinning around to cover Percy's back.

"If you kill her," Loki said, "The dragon will kill Annika. If you don't, she will kill you. Decisions, decisions."

"You forgot about us," Shane said turning towards Loki.

"No I didn't," Loki said. He opened the fuse box attached to the tree, and flipped off the one switch inside. The electrical hum died. Instantly we heard the sounds of metal cables snapping.

The bridge was being ripped apart by these massive humanoid beings made of stone and ice. There was at least a dozen of each. Some were dark gray and looked like they had been carved from granite. Others were white and clear, and looked like they had been carved from ice. They both sets looked like the sculptor was a four year old. The giants averaged fifty feet tall, but some were a couple yards taller.

"_Styx,_" Finn said.

"Behold," Loki said. "The Jotun. The Frost Giants and Rock Giants of Jotenheim. Good luck heroes, you'll need it."

"Got any more mummy dust?" I asked Ziva.

"Are you kidding?" she said. "It takes forty days to prepare that stuff. Fenrir exhausted my entire supply."

She looked at me seriously. I knew that look. I nodded, giving her permission. She turned and began chasing after the giants, who were already beginning to meander south, in the direction of Asgard.

Shane and Finn hesitated for a moment and then went after her, leaving me alone to face Loki. I could see Percy and Annabeth nearby out of the corner of my eye. Percy's fighting style was more subdued. I guess he didn't want to kill Annika, but Grendeldam knew his weakness, he needed to dispose of her before she took advantage. After seeing the demigod battle Fenrir and outrun that train, Grendel's mother should have been no problem…but Percy was being forced back, and Annabeth was spending her energy trying to keep Percy's Achilles spot covered.

"Well," I said drawing my _khopesh_ from the Duat. I threw my staff down and transformed it once more into a lion. I brandished my sword in my right hand and my wand in my left. My lion growled and slowly approached Loki.

"I guess it's just you and me," I said.

"Indeed," Loki said. "We have unfinished business you and I, I want my son back…and I will take him, by any means necessary. You were a fool to challenge me mortal. I am a god."

"My name is Alexander Sands," I said. "I am a scribe in the House of Life. I am an Animal Charmer, son of Jacob Sands, Water Elementalist. I am a magician with the blood of pharaohs. I was trained to fight gods."

_To be concluded…_

**Author's Notes:** _Sorry this last update took so long. I just bought a new Mac, and didn't Microsoft word for Macs uploaded till Thursday. Then I went out of town for the Fourth of July weekend. Still, I apologize for the delay. Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter._

_A special thanks to my sister Phoenix-Talon, who, in addition to creating Shane, Finn, and Amaya also helped write this chapter._

_Also a special thanks to my reviewers, especially Storyseeker, who reviews everything I write, even if he's not familiar with the source material. (Case in point, this fic) I swear I could write a Twilight fic and he'd review. (NEVER gonna happen by the way.) As well as the reviewers t-fly, wish I c0uld and Fake Bliss, who really made me happy with their thorough reviews. Keep on reviewing guys; I love feedback, positive, and negative. (Though much prefer positive)_


	10. A Plague of Lemurs

**Clash of the Titans**

**Chapter 10: A Plague of Lemurs **

"Trained to fight gods?" Loki said with the same horror and revulsion that Percy had just yesterday. "What kind of sick people are you?"

I didn't mention that my usual methods of fighting gods probably wouldn't work on Loki. The Aesir were closer to the Greco-Roman gods than the Egyptian gods. Less powerful, but more realized. This also meant that they could affect the mortal plane a lot more easily than the Egyptian gods could, and they didn't need hosts.

My usual fighting methods simply wouldn't work on Loki, just like they wouldn't work on a Greek god such as Ares or Poseidon. Loki smirked as soon as these thoughts crossed my mind. He raised his right hand and stepped forward as a fireball appeared in his palm. Somehow he was sensing my weaknesses, he wasn't reading my thoughts—at least I don't think he was—but he was sensing my shortcomings and bluffs. This would make it harder to beat him. It also meant he probably knew my bluff about locking Fenrir in the Duat forever if I died was a lie. Which meant my life was at stake.

I drew a Wadjet in the air with my wand. I then threw my wand at the god, hoping it would help make a good distraction. Egyptian Magician's wands are based on the ancient Egyptian Throwing sticks that the Pharaohs used to hunt waterfowl. They worked a lot like Australian boomerangs. But a magician's wand could be mentally controlled by the magician using it, which meant that in the air, I could do a lot more with the wand than I could with it in my hand.

I gripped my khopesh with both hands. I considered summoning my combat avatar but decided against it. It would just use up energy that the celestial mead and my pancake breakfast had given me. Energy I could ill afford to lose.

Loki hurled his fireball at me. The Wadjet symbol created a defensive barrier around me, preventing any attack from getting through, but the fireball didn't even make it to the Wadjet. My wand intercepted the sphere, and spinning around the ball at a rapid speed created a vacuum, that sucked out the air and extinguished the orb.

"Interesting," Loki said frowning. He raised both arms, fireballs appearing in both. He started to hurl them both when my lion-staff pounced on him, knocking him to the ground.

I knew that a lion made of wood was no match for the god of fire, but I had a backup plan. I made several gestures with my left hand, while still gripping my sword with my right. The Wand began rapidly drawing symbols in the air as I cast a semi-complicated spell known affectionately among younger Magicians as the "Mickey Mouse Broom Spell."

Loki roared in rage and hurled my lion across the field and into the cliff. He transformed back into a staff just before striking the wall and shattering apart. I grinned; Loki had done almost exactly what I'd wanted him to do. In fact he'd done me one better. I'd expected him to burn the staff in half, not shatter it.

Now, to explain the "Mickey Mouse Broom Spell." A lot of people have seen the Fantasia sequence where Mickey Mouse animates the brooms and looses control of the cleaning supplies. It's a very popular sequence. Malik even says that they're making a new movie based on that sequence. I wouldn't know. I haven't watched a movie made after 2003. (When I was assigned to Madagascar)

What most people don't realize, is that it was based on an Egyptian "fairy tale". A fairy tale that was about an Egyptian Mage and his apprentice. In fact, Walt Disney may have known just a little bit more about Egyptian magic than he let the average Joe know. If you catch my drift.

Animating an inanimate object such as a coat or broomstick requires a wax shabti, but that is not the spell to which the "Mickey" is referring. Remember when Mickey chops the broomstick up into a thousand pieces and the pieces all transform into a new broomstick? That is exactly what was happening to the shards of my staff. Each shard was expanding and transforming into a new lion.

Within seconds a dozen lions bounded to my side and began circling Loki, with more forming every second.

"Well," Loki said. "I must admit your parlor tricks are amusing. What's next? Rabbits from your hat?'

"Don't tempt me," I said grabbing the tail of the lion nearest me. It morphed and warped into a new staff.

"I have a few tricks too," Loki said. "Care to see mine?"

The god began to grow, expanding in size within seconds. In moments he had doubled in size, and was still growing.

"Attack!" I yelled. The lions pounced and covered the chaos god. Each lion latched on to any part of Loki that they could. Suddenly Loki lit up, his body became covered in flame. Each lion fell off, transforming back into an individual staff that began burning. The flames ignited the dry grass around us and I became boxed in a circle of flames. The flames flowed off the giant god and fueled the fire encircling me.

_Crap_, I thought. This was not turning out the way I had planned.

"Time to die little mortal wizard," Loki sneered. "Die knowing that you made no difference, and that Ragnarok still occurred."

He closed his fist, and the circle began closing around me. The flames hit my Wadjet symbol and went no further, my magical barrier shielding me. I could still feel the intense heat though, the shield couldn't stop that. And it wouldn't need to either, the flames were so tightly packed around the barrier that it was sucking the oxygen out.

I noticed that Loki was beginning to shrink again as the flames intensified. The god wasn't all-powerful, and he was using up energy just as I was. I had plenty in reserve, as I was drawing from my staff, my breakfast, the Duat, and the Celestial mead. I could use this to my advantage, but I needed a major distraction.

A plague. That was my solution. It was one of the most powerful spells that an animal charmer could do. To summon an intense plague of animals to swarm a target or land. It's how the Black Death got as bad as it did. Moses did it with frogs, flies, and gnats, as well as a plague of serpents when he left Egypt. These were the traditional animals. Rats and fleas were used in the Bubonic Plague, and Desjardins was fond of using a plague of fruit bats.

Each animal charmer finds it easier to summon a plague of animals that they have an affiliation or connection with. Like Desjardins and his fruit bats. My closest affiliations were white lions, and peregrine falcons. Neither were really plague animals, but I wasn't really thinking about this when I started the spell.

I was losing air, and didn't really have much time to think. I concentrated on summoning from the Duat. My wand etched the Egyptian word for plague in hieroglyphic in the air. I didn't give much thought as to what kind of animal to summon, so I was kind of surprised when over a thousand ring-tailed lemurs came charging out of the forest (or so it appeared, I was really calling them from the Ma'at, the creative energy of the universe.)

I had summoned a plague of lemurs. In retrospect, this wasn't completely out of the blue; I am stationed in Madagascar, which is the only place on the planet these animals are found. There is an affiliation there, but at the time I was dumbfounded.

Still, the animals swarmed Loki, which broke his concentration and killed the flames around me. I took several deep breaths. Even then I was still thinking lemurs? I had heard of a magician who'd summoned a plague of lemmings once, which is where that myth about lemming jumping off cliffs came from. Still, this was pretty bizarre.

The lemurs began covering him. He turned on the flames again, but they wouldn't work as well this time. My staff is made from wood; it's inherently wood, even in animal form. These were flesh and blood lemurs; just as Moses frogs were flesh and blood frogs. And like Moses' frogs these creatures could not be gotten rid of easily.

For every lemur Loki incinerated, a dozen more took its place. The scent of burnt Prosimians filled the air. He was shrinking, and he looked angry. He let out a tremendous "AARGH!"

Flames shot out in every direction, incinerating everything in its path. My Wadjet shield held once more, but when the fire died out there were hundreds of charcoaled lemur skeletons as far back as the forest. Loki stood in the center of the blast, still twice the size of a normal human, his hair completely on fire, and his eyes glowing white-hot. He looked at me with pure rage.

There were still lemurs on the way, but the lemurs were being summoned from the Ma'at, and Loki's blast had temporarily disrupted that.

"That…" he snarled. "Was…annoying."

"I summon the Seven Ribbons of Hathor," I said, reaching into the Duat. This was a bit of a gamble. A magician could only summon the Ribbons once a year. The Ribbons were meant to separate an Egyptian god from its host. I had no idea what effect this would have on a Norse god, or even a Greco-Roman god. But based on the way that they worked, and the way I noticed Loki was using power, I was betting that the ribbons would drain even more power from the god.

I prayed I was right, as I wouldn't be able to summon the Ribbons until after the demon days passed again, and such potent objects from the Duat could be very useful especially with all of the Egyptian gods loose in the mortal world. Still, it was my best option.

The ribbons danced through the air moving toward Loki. He hurled a fireball at the ribbons, but they nimbly danced out of the way. They began to entwine themselves around Loki. He screamed as the flames on his body went out. Only the fires in his eyes still smoldered. He began to shrink.

"Yes," I said, realizing the Ribbons were working…at least partially. Loki was resisting a lot better than a Netjer would. The ribbons were encasing him in a cocoon. I watched with morbid fascination as the ribbons wrapped around Loki. I heard muffled screams of agony, and then silence. The ribbons fluttered to the ground, as the cocoon was empty. The ribbons then dissolved as they returned to the Duat.

"Help," Percy called. I spun around and saw that Annabeth had been knocked unconscious by Grendeldam. Percy was moving fast and furiously, nimbly avoiding her attacks. She was swinging a large wooden club almost as big as Percy, and was trying to circle around behind him.

Now Percy could have taken this monster easily, but he didn't want to kill Annika, who was fighting the dragon in the air above us. I prayed that she was doing well. As long as Grendeldam was alive Wolfslayer couldn't kill Annika. At least…according to Loki. Yeah, there's a reliable source.

My lemurs suddenly began emerging from the forest once more. No Loki, no fire-magic to disrupt the plague magic. I considered ending the plague, but I thought better of it. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, the lemurs screeched and swarmed Grendeldam. The weight of the sheer number of primates soon bogged the monster down and pinned her to the ground.

"Nice," Percy said. "Weird, but nice." He pulled out a thermos from his backpack and poured a small amount of a gold colored liquid down Annabeth's throat. She gasped and leapt to her feet. This had to be nectar, the divine drink of the Greek gods. Deadly to mortals, and dangerous to half-bloods, if they had too much. But a small amount would heal them.

"The fence," she said right away. Leave it to a child of Athena to be logical. We turned towards the massive tear in the fence. It wasn't that big by the fence's standards, but it was huge to us. The Chrysler Building could have walked through. And it was, more or less. Two more of those Frost Giants were emerging. One of them was female, which was a vast difference from the males. She was just as big as they were, but had this ethereal, otherworldly beauty. Her skin was frosty white, with ice blue eyes and long white hair.

"_Hi-Nehm," _I said. The glowing blue hieroglyphs appeared in the air in front of the fence. There was a twanging sound as the cables of the fence began to reattach themselves. They shoved the two giants back and heaved them into Jotenheim. Annabeth bolted to the tree with the circuit breaker and flipped the switch back on. The low electrical hum buzzed through the air as the gate came back online.

I shuddered. That had taken quite a bit out of me.

"How many got through?" Annabeth asked. I shook my head. I didn't know.

We glanced southward, intending to count the giants that had meandered through the fence. That's when the Ma'at symbol suddenly appeared in mid-air in above the field. A giant glowing purple circle appeared encompassing most of the field.

"What's this?" Annabeth asked.

"The Ma'at spell," I said suddenly. "The same spell I killed Medusa with. Ziva must be casting it."

"But…it doesn't work on Norse monsters," Annabeth said frowning.

"We don't know that," I said. "I tried to cast it on Fenrir, he's kind of a god. It has no effect on gods, Egyptian, Greek or otherwise."

There was a shudder, and all the giants crumbled to dust. I saw that one of the giants was partially beyond the range of Ziva's spell, but not all the way. His left side crumbled, but the right side took slightly longer. The lemurs shrieked and leapt away from the mound that was Grendeldam. There was a large pile of dust, her club and her t-shirt, but the spell had dissolved Grendel's mom.

Percy and I swore at the same time. We glanced up at Wolfslayer. His right wing was within the circle of Ziva's spell, so it crumbled apart. The dragon tumbled out of the sky and landed in the nearby woods with a loud crash. The three of us exchanged a glance and rushed in the direction of the crash.

XXX

It took us almost fifteen minutes to find where the dragon had crashed. When we got there Annika was cooking some of the dragon's flesh. Her sword was sticking out of the dragon's neck.

"You're okay!" I said stupidly.

She nodded. "I found the dragon's weak spot. The first Geatson since Beowulf. Whoever did that thing to Wolfslayer's wing, I owe them my life."

"That would be Ziva," I said.

Annika made a sour face as she pulled the stick of dragon meat out of the fire. She sniffed it and then set the stick down.

"Percy, Xander, if you would be so kind as to leave," She said. "I'm taking off my clothes."

We blinked.

"Spoils of victory," she explained. "Dragon flesh is supposed to give the eater invulnerability, but whatever they wear while eating becomes invulnerable too, and any skin under those clothes won't be. Annabeth can stay if she wants, but I'd prefer if she leaves too."

"Ah," I said. "We'll go catch up with Ziva and the hunters."

XXX

We met the girls along the way back. Thalia and Amaya had apparently rejoined the group at some point.

"Nice timing on that Ma'at spell," I said to Ziva. "You saved our bacon."

She nodded somberly.

"It was all I could think of," she said. "Nothing else I was throwing at the giants seemed to work."

"Yeah," I said. "Well the spell took out _Grendeldam, _and gave Annika the chance to gain the upper hand against her dragon."

There was a sudden shudder, like the start of an earthquake. The ground began to rumble and a massive, familiar-looking snake began to emerge from the ground.

"_Isfet!_" I cursed. "Jormungand!"

"I'll try the Ma'at spell again," Ziva said.

"Won't work," I replied. "It didn't affect Fenrir, it won't affect his brother either."

"_**What did you do to my FATHER?"**_ Jormungand's voice in our heads nearly caused our brains to explode. The giant snake twisted his head towards us, looking directly down at us. His monstrous green eyes each as big as small lakes narrowed and focused on us.

"What did you do with Loki?" Ziva whispered.

"Seven Ribbons of Hathor," I replied. "Surprisingly effective."

"I'm surprised," Ziva said. "They wouldn't work on a Greco-Roman god. Maybe it's because Loki is the Norse god of Chaos."

"Yeah," I said. "Maybe."

"Anyone have any bright ideas?" I asked turning towards Percy and Annabeth. "Cuz, I'm pretty much tapped out."

They shook their heads.

"I was afraid of that."

We each drew our weapons, preparing to go down fighting. Who knows, maybe Odin would consider this a noble death and we'd all wind up in Valhalla. Probably not Percy and Annabeth though…they'd earned their spots in Elysium a while back, and Hades might take offense if Odin attempted to claim their souls. Inter-pantheon wars were something to avoid. I vaguely wondered if I would go to Valhalla, Heaven, Elysium, or Aaru—the Ancient Egyptian paradise. I also wondered if life could get any more complicated.

The serpent hissed at us again. And then lunged. He would have crushed us in a single blow, but a gigantic hammer, almost as big as the serpent's head, came flying out of the air and slammed into Jormungand's face.

The snake bellowed in rage as the hammer began pounding on him of it's own accord.

"Take that Loki spawn," Thor bellowed as he charged across the field. "You wanted Ragnarok? Well you've got it. And everything that comes with!"

Behind Thor was a massive (and I mean that literally, they were all around fifty feet tall) army of Norse gods. I saw Hermiod and Heimdall, as well as dozens of gods (and a few goddesses) that I didn't know. There was a guy with one arm, and another with an iron foot. I saw Sleipnir as well, and he had grown in size just as Thor and Heimdall had. I didn't see Odin, but I did see three gods that certainly didn't belong with the Norse gods.

"Mom?" Annabeth exclaimed incredulously.

"Dad?" Percy yelped with equal skepticism.

"Artemis?" Thalia said, but less dubiously than Percy and Annabeth had.

The gods all raised their weapons in a battle cry and charged at the snake.

I guess Jormungand realized that the odds were no longer in his favor, because the panicked snaked let out a screeching hiss and dove back beneath the ground. The army of gods let out a tremendous cry of victory.

"Hey guys," Nico said running up to us. "Did I miss much?"

"I'm to take that you're responsible for that?" Ziva asked.

"Sort of," Nico said. "The Norse army was already on its way. I went to Olympus to try and convince Zeus to help stop the whole Ragnarok thing. He was pretty stubborn, but finally allowed Poseidon, Athena, and Artemis go, because you guys were here."

"Something like you can go rescue your idiot kids from then Norse Apocalypse?" Percy said.

"Pretty much," Nico replied. "After that I shadow traveled on my own to Banff Springs where the Norse gods were preparing for battle. This guy Tyr gave me lift, and we showed up just in time to chase off that snaky-guy."

"Excellent timing on that, by the way," Thalia said.

"Well done heroes," A voice behind us declared. We turned around to see Odin standing behind us. He was dressed in the simple cloak of stars. Annika was next to him, and she was positively beaming.

"How was the dragon?" I asked as she joined us.

"Could have used some ketchup," she said. "But not bad. A stupid bug landed on my back while I was eating though, so it became invulnerable, and I've got a weak spot."

"For the services you have rendered Asgard," Odin continued. "I have rewards for you."

We glanced at each other nervously. Gifts from the gods were often double edged and we knew it.

"For the Hunters of Artemis," Odin said. "As you know, our doors are always open to you, so there is little we can give you that you don't already have or need. Still, you have earned a favor from Odin. Use it when you need it."

"A favor from a Norse god," Annika whispered. "Those are hard to earn. Especially from Odin."

"For Annika Geatson," Odin said. "From this day forward, you may use the Bifrost Bridge anytime you wish. This whole mess could have been summarily avoided if you could have just come directly to Asgard. However, I must restrict you to one use of the Bridge per day."

She nodded. "Thank you, Lord Odin."

"For the half-god children of the Roman gods," He said. He handed Percy a large bag. Percy reached into the bag and pulled out a strange looking rune stone, roughly the size of a baseball.

"These nine rune stones will prevent Norse monsters, and beasts like Fenrir, from crossing any border that they are placed along."

"Cool," Percy said. "We can put them along Camp Half-Blood."

"Or," Annabeth said. "If we place them strategically along the Canadian-American border, we can effectively keep the Norse monsters confined to a much smaller area."

"Yeah," Percy said abashedly. "We could do that too…"

"Southern Mages," Odin said turning towards Ziva and myself.

"With all due respect, Odin," I said. "All I'd like for a reward is to get rid of Fenrir. As long as I've got the wolf locked in the Duat, I'm kind of a target, and I've got enough problems dealing with Egyptian demons and gods."

Odin smiled. "A wise decision, as you wish."

He nodded to Heimdall, and then waved his hand over Percy, Annabeth, Ziva, Nico, Annika and me. Our clothes suddenly change into Polar bear skins, leather boots and thick warm coats. A Bifrost Bridge appeared in the air behind him. He gestured that we follow and then stepped into the rainbow and dissolved away.

I stepped in after him.

XXX

The stinking bridge burned just as badly it did the first time, but at least this time I was kind of prepared for it.

When I emerged, we were standing on a massive plain of ice. It was dark, nighttime wherever we were. There was a broken set of iron chains on the ground in front of us. And it was COLD! Odin had bundled us up, but it was still way below freezing wherever he had taken us.

"Antarctica," Ziva said as she stumbled out of the rainbow behind us. "The 360th Nome."

"Indeed," Odin said. "Specifically East Antarctica, Queen Maud Land, the Kong Haakon IV Vidde. Part of the Norwegian claim. This where Fenrir was originally bound."

"We're only a few miles from the Nome Headquarters," Ziva said looking at me in surprise.

"Why didn't they mention that there was a giant wolf bound a couple of miles from the Nome HQ?" I asked curiously.

"Um…maybe they did…" Ziva replied. "Have you have read any of the reports that come out of Nome 360?"

"No,"

"Me neither,"

"Can we get this over with," Percy said. "It's kind of cold here."

"Right," I said. I concentrated on my freezer in the Duat. I mentally moved Fenrir, and the seawater from Long Island Sound, and pulled them out of the freezer. I imagined placing them on the ground right where the chains were. My bin shrank back to its original shape in the Duat, while a massive block of ice containing a frozen wolf appeared over the chains.

Odin chuckled and waved his hands over the chains. They shot up and wrapped around the block of ice.

"_Hi-Nehm,_" Ziva said casting the joining spell on the chains. The broken chains resealed back together.

"Know this," Odin said. "You have done what the gods could not. You delayed Ragnarok, but you have not stopped it. Ragnarok shall still come to pass, and Loki shall return to seek vengeance."

On that cryptic note, Odin vanished in front of us, quickly becoming a cold wind and blowing away.

"Did he just forget to give us a lift out of here?" Percy said.

"Maybe I could summon my daily Bifrost Bridge," Annika said brightly.

"I think that was only meant for you," Annabeth said. "I kind of doubt Heimdall would carry us. Especially after we hijacked his rainbow twice."

"Come on then," I said. "We need to find a magic penguin, who can direct us toward the local Per Ankh Headquarters."

Percy's eye twitched. "Magic…penguin?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Just when I think that my life couldn't get any weirder," he said.

XXX

It didn't take us long to find the Per Ankh HQ. (Or a magic penguin. But we won't get into that.)

There were 5 magicians currently stationed in the Nome, and one was water elemental master. She used water from deep under the ice to make ice sculptures of pyramids and obelisks to use as portals. We only had to wait till sunrise to make a portal out of there. I created a portal back to camp Half-Blood, where I found Ardeth Bay was waiting for me. I have no idea how he had gotten from western Canada to Long Island New York in less than 24 hours, and the bird certainly didn't feel like telling me. I guess some things will forever remain a mystery.

Nico destroyed the Obelisk so no more magicians would be able to get into the camp. We said our goodbyes, and then Annika took her Bifrost Bridge home. Argus the camp security guard gave Ziva and me a ride to Manhattan.

In Central Park I used Cleopatra's Needle to open a portal to my home in Madagascar. Ziva planned to use the temple of Isis in the nearby museum to head home. We said our goodbyes and I returned through the portal to my home.

It was late afternoon in Madagascar when I arrived through the obelisk I had set up for my comings and goings. I had opened the portal in New York at noon, so it was almost seven when I arrived. I was tired and hungry. I ate a little food from my cupboard, and then collapsed on my hammock, ready to sleep for the next week.

My _Ba_ on the other hand felt like taking a little trip. I'm not certain where I was but I was floating by a cliff face, and I could see Loki was clearly looking out over the cliff into the valley below. It must have been in Canada, because I could see the Banff Springs Lodge from our vantage point.

Loki wasn't alone either there was a woman with him. She was one of the most disturbing sights I've ever seen since I became a magician, and that's saying something.

On the one hand, she looked like a gorgeous supermodel. With long brown hair and clear blue eyes. She was wearing what looked like an expensive blouse and trendy jeans and high-heeled shoes. On the other hand, she looked like a rotting corpse, maggot eaten and decomposing. These two images were superimposed on top of each other, like a computer image…except I was fairly certain this was real.

"What now, Father?" the woman asked.

"I'm not certain, my dear," Loki replied. "The southern mage injured me. And the Roman gods have gained much power and influence in the world since I was bound. It's not the world that I remember."

"Will you still pursue Ragnarok?" she inquired.

"No," he said. "At least not yet. There are new factors to consider, my wounds are not yet healed and there is much about this new world that I need to learn. Let's just say that the Roman half-gods and the Egyptian sorcerers have given me much needed perspective."

Loki faded from sight as I jerked awake. A giraffe beetle was crawling across my face. I brushed the beetle away from me and sat upright. Then I groaned.

I had completely forgotten about Kherpi.

_The End…For Now._

**Author's Notes: **_ReviewGirl I wished to comment directly on your thoughts about Xander. He's an Egyptian Magician, so…yeah he IS pretty arrogant. I thought that Riordan had made it pretty clear in Red Pyramid that they were an arrogant bunch. Sadie and Carter were the exceptions because they were new. (And they're kind of arrogant too.) Even Julius, I mean really think about what he did and what he put his kids through. THAT'S arrogance. I DID want Xander to come off as kind of arrogant. Part of this story was to teach him some humility…did he learn…maybe, maybe not. You have to remember that this story was also told from Xander's perspective. He kind of has a biased way of looking at things. Percy and Annabeth may not have been as impressed as Xander thought they were. In fact, in my head they thought he was kind of preachy, but could see he was still a decent guy so decided to help him out anyway._


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